Open Educational Resources

The picture above pretty clearly states where I stand on this topic.  OER seems to have a good thing going.  Free resources available to the entire public. Where could you go wrong? In my opinion,  I believe that it is possible to use this expanding tool as a learner and a student, but I feel that for a student to effectively use the materials for a class, a teacher must point them in the direction of the materials they want them to use.  I realize this seems limiting, but it really isn't.  For a teacher to use these resources they have to look at the materials and see what works for their classroom.  After they direct students to specific material and activities, the students then get to explore the other materials while already having a general idea of what their teacher is talking about. Using a website like Internet Archives is a place that is easily navigated by anyone and easy to give students intructions on getting to specific material. Therefore,  the student knows that they have all the information their teacher wants, but they have expanded on their own.  As a teacher this is how I would use the tool and how I would like my teachers to have me use it as a student.  This gives a path to follow but allows for exploration and for me, I need guidelines to follow or I always end up way off track. If a teacher finds something that isn't and OER they can visit Hewlett to apply to have that material available as an OER. As learners I believe this tool is a great way to find  reliable information.  Everybody knows how hard it is to google a topic and recieved contradicting information from every other site,  this tool allows an independent learner, like myself, to investigate and know they are recieving information that they can trust. Also because it is a new tool to many of us as learners there is always help in navigating your way around it and finding out what is reliable. I found a blog that is very helpful in answering many of my questions Over all I think this is the best idea that I've heard all semester.