{"id":137,"date":"2025-12-18T18:45:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/why-use-oer\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T21:11:11","slug":"why-use-oer","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/why-use-oer\/","title":{"raw":"Why Use OER","rendered":"Why Use OER"},"content":{"raw":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M\n

TEDxNYED \u2013 David Wiley \u2013 03\/06\/10<\/a> by TEDx Talks<\/a> under a Creative Commons Attribution<\/a> license.<\/sup><\/p>\nUsing open educational materials in your course means your course can save students money, make educational materials more accessible and can allow you to customize and contextualize your materials. As an educator, what benefits do you see in using OER for you and your students?\n

Saves Costs for Students<\/h2>\nOER can offer drastic savings in the cost of education. Some students who otherwise cannot afford to buy expensive textbooks or other course materials will appreciate this affordable option when taking your course.\n\nGraphic from the UBC AMS, used in the 2019 Open UBC Snapshot<\/a>.Graphic from the UBC AMS, used in the 2019 Open UBC Snapshot<\/a>.\"\"Not being able to afford textbooks and other learning materials can be a real teaching and learning issue. According to the\u00a02019 AMS Academic Experience Survey<\/a>\u00a0(AES), over 71 per cent of UBCV undergraduate students reported going without textbooks or resources due to cost at least once, with 35 per cent of students reporting they frequently or often go without textbooks due to costs. Additionally, 40 per cent of undergraduate respondents reported that they are not sure they can pay for their course materials. The survey also found that over 16 per cent of both graduate and undergraduate UBCV students reported experiencing food insecurity (unsure of the ability to obtain food or feed oneself) on a monthly basis. The use of OER helps ensure that students have access to the materials they need in order to meet the learning goals of a course regardless of their financial situation.\n

Helps Prior to Learning and After Learning<\/h2>\nIf an instructor opens their own course materials and shares them with the public, it greatly enhances opportunities for learning for both students who already took the course and prospective students.\n\nStudents often would like to look over course materials before the term begins. If students have that opportunity to take a look at the course materials it will help them make more informed decisions in choosing their courses, and will give them the opportunity to prepare themselves for the class.\n\nStudents may also want to revisit their course materials after the quarter\/semester is over to refresh their memories or to further study the topics. Open course materials will help them reinforce what they have learned and further develop their level of understanding in the area.\n

Provides Peace of Mind for All Users<\/h2>\nIf you\u2019re reusing someone else\u2019s materials, one of the best reasons for using OER is for peace of mind about attribution. The resources are licensed to allow the sharing of content and so you will not need to contact the author about making use of their work provided that what you want to do falls within the open license. Open educational resources are free at the point of use, so you will not need to provide monetary compensation for using them. Then there is the opportunity of discovering alternative ideas for presenting and teaching your subject matter or being able to point your students to the alternative explanations for further study.\n

Other Benefits<\/h2>\n \n