Thing 17 - OER

 Thing 17 – Open Educational Resources

The idea behind OER is to make learning resources available for more than just research purposes. It is to enable learners to utilise information and repurpose it. OER allows users to develop their learning by offering the opportunity to use their resources for their own purposes such as creating presentations or designing online courses. This can make introducing or sharing learning in the work setting much easier whilst avoiding copyright issues.

Resources such as OER are great for enabling learning in an interactive way, its like a lending library for educational resources and this allows users to share resources and information with colleagues in a way that works for them. I find this particularly interesting as I often have to deliver new information in my setting and it can be challenging to find new ways to share it in order to keep the audience engaged.

I used OER Commons to search for some information regarding transitioning elderly people into residential care and it led to my discovery of a free online course;

Ageing and disability: Transitions into residential care, which discusses the role of social workers and care staff in supporting individuals through the transition, and how residential environments affect quality of life.

http://www.oercommons.org/courses/ageing-and-disability-transitions-into-residential-care/view

This has now enabled me to have my colleagues complete the course thus improving practice (in that aspect) all round in our setting.

Finding information and gaining qualifications through self-directed learning or research is rewarding and addictive. This encourages me wholeheartedly to continue utilising resources such as this and using them to improve my practice on a daily basis. I highly recommend you give it a try.

However, I do appreciate that some people are not great fans of this type of learning resource, many people prefer the traditional learning with face-to-face interaction, physical books and resources, the classroom setting and planned learning. Some might even question the reliability of the information and the sources it originates from. The freedom of OER can be daunting to some and quite rightly so. If I had the time available, I think that I myself would opt for face-to-face learning on a daily basis, but alas I don’t have that luxury. So in the meantime, OER will suit me just fine.

 

 

 

 

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