Open educational resources (OER) are, as the name suggests, educational resources that are accessible to everyone without needing to pay. One main advantage of open educational resources is that it removes some of the barriers to education, making it more accessible to people who may not have the means to obtain certain materials such as textbooks.
Alexander College was recently featured in an article posted by BCcampus, an organization that focuses on post-secondary education, about the challenges and advantages of open education at post-secondary institutions.
In this article, Lauri Aesoph, the manager of Open Education Operations, praises Alexander College for offering courses that use OER. In fact, over half of the courses list free resources as an option.
The use of OER provides a big advantage over other institutions which may not utilize OER to the degree that Alexander College has and eases the financial burden that students bear when it comes to educational materials cost.
For the future, Alexander College hopes to introduce OER to more courses in a broader strategic open education plan, which is currently in the works.
