A workshop in Austin changed how I think about open educational resources

I was at a teacher conference in Austin last year and sat through a session about OER Commons. The presenter argued that free, open textbooks are the only way to make education truly equitable. But a guy next to me said the quality control is a huge problem and districts waste more time fixing errors than they save in money. It really made me question my whole approach to finding materials. Has your school or district had a good experience with a specific OER platform, or do you stick with paid stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

amy_murphy158d ago

Yeah I saw a study that found some free textbooks had more factual errors than the old paid versions, which is a real worry.

anthonyy558d ago

That quality control issue @amy_murphy15 mentioned is a real sticking point. My district tried a free science curriculum and teachers spent hours correcting basic mistakes. We ended up going back to our paid program for the consistency, even though it costs more.