This week we dived into the growing trend of Open Education Resources.

This year has really shown the importance of access to educational tools for everyone and schools have show how this can be achieved.

As a current university student I have definitely felt the pain of having to buy expensive textbooks. This seems to be even more relevant in the digital era where the resources teachers want you to have can be accessible in different ways.

Even the course materials offered to us from instructors are often posted into a server that we cannot access once the class has ended. Does this make sense to deny students access to materials they paid for and may need for future studies?

If the goal is to encourage more learning… why are things not accessible?

As a future educator I have definitely thought about this for my students. I want them to have access to every learning material that they need and as I recently witnessed in my school visit this week, it does seem like school’s are trying to move forward with this.

Gone are computer labs and instead devices are brought into the classroom with students learning to access materials themselves. While some of this was COVID-19 preparation (in case students have to learn from home) this did show me a different view of accessing materials.

My class also had the opportunity to go to the library during my visit. I was really impressed with how libraries are changing into resource and learning centers and are encouraging inquiry-based learning.

I will be exploring more about how libraries are changing in my next post!

Julia

 

Resources Shared with Me:

https://www.cmec.ca/docs/copyright/CMEC_POSTER_FDG_EN.pdf

http://cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/291/Copyright_Matters.pdf

https://www.oerafrica.org/communication/find-open-content/index.html#/