Open Educational Resources

         Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are usually freely available online for anyone and everyone to use. Whether you are a teacher, student or just a learner.  Examples of OER include but are not limited to full online courses, course modules, syllabi, lectures, homework assignments, quizzes, lab and classroom activities, games, and simulations etc.  contained in a digital media format forming collections from around the world.

Lets be honest everyone likes the idea of free resources especailly as poor college students. I personally liked the idea of being able to access books, resources and course work online and it can be available for free.  It’s nice how OER can be used in a formal or informal situation along with being able to be used in a face to face environment as well.Which is a big deal to me, since Im not a huge fan of all online interactions. OER can make certain material available to a broader audience and spread the cost out so it’s more feasible to use.

When I  googled OER several links came up and I decided to go with what seemed to be a promising link 80 OER Tools, which it was. On this site I found an ATutor link along with 79 other great links, where teachers can quickly assemble, package, and redistribute web-based instructional content, easily retrieve and import prepackaged content, and conduct courses online.  I found a link titled For teachers, Google ineducation, this site gives you three different sections to explore: classroom tools, professional development, student resources.  It provides you with articles and/or videos on how to incorporate tools in your classroom or helps you search for lessons etc..   Another site I found was TeachersFirst and it has a search bar where you can see web resources for the subject and grade level you teach or want to learn about.  It can be broken down to grade levels then subjects or just in subjects in general.  I would use all three of these sources for different reasons. The first one I would use the ATutor link to quickly put together online packages for my students, if I wanted to use online material. The second link I would use a reference as to how to work certain apps, or to find helpful tools. The third site I would use to specifically look up lessons in certain areas for a quick go to tool.  

Overall the idea of integrating the technology of a flipped classroom into our everyday lives by becoming aware of OER’s is a good one.  If everyone was connected and able to share online materials it would save everyone money in the long run and make education and self-directed learning easier for students, teachers or just for learners.