How do you balance the benefits and costs of OER in distance learning?

1 Define your goals and needs

Before you adopt or create OER for your distance learning courses, you need to define your goals and needs. What are the learning outcomes and objectives of your courses? What are the preferences and expectations of your learners? What are the technical and pedagogical requirements of your platform and delivery mode? How much time and resources do you have to develop and maintain OER? By answering these questions, you can identify the gaps and opportunities for using OER in your distance learning context.

2 Evaluate the quality and relevance of OER

Not all OER are created equal. Some may be more suitable and reliable than others for your distance learning courses. Therefore, you need to evaluate the quality and relevance of OER before you use or adapt them. You can use various criteria and tools to assess OER, such as accuracy, currency, comprehensiveness, alignment, accessibility, usability, and adaptability. You can also consult reviews, ratings, and feedback from other users and experts to verify the quality and relevance of OER.

3 Adapt and customize OER to fit your context

One of the advantages of OER is that you can adapt and customize them to fit your context and needs. You can modify the content, format, style, language, and level of OER to suit your learning outcomes, learners, and platform. You can also combine different OER to create new and innovative materials for your distance learning courses. However, you need to respect the license and attribution of the original OER and ensure that your adapted OER are also open and shareable.

4 Share and collaborate with others

Another benefit of OER is that they can foster collaboration and sharing among distance learning educators and learners. You can share your OER with others through various platforms and repositories, such as OER Commons, MERLOT, and OpenStax. You can also collaborate with others to co-create, review, and improve OER for your distance learning courses. By sharing and collaborating with others, you can increase the visibility, diversity, and quality of OER and contribute to the global open education movement.

5 Monitor and update your OER

OER are not static. They need to be monitored and updated regularly to ensure their quality, relevance, and effectiveness. You need to collect and analyze feedback and data from your learners, peers, and stakeholders to evaluate the impact and outcomes of your OER. You also need to keep track of the changes and developments in your field, discipline, and technology to update your OER accordingly. By monitoring and updating your OER, you can ensure their currency, accuracy, and sustainability.

6 Balance the benefits and costs of OER

Using OER in distance learning can offer many benefits, but it also involves some costs. You need to balance the benefits and costs of OER according to your goals, needs, and resources. You need to consider the trade-offs between quality, access, flexibility, and affordability. You also need to weigh the benefits and costs of creating, adapting, using, and sharing OER. By balancing the benefits and costs of OER, you can make the best use of OER in your distance learning courses.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?