The concept of Open Educational Resources, according to Lisa petrides, provides a strong ideal for

innovation in the educational system with particular appeal to higher education. The idea of a
worldwide community that can share and improve existing learning and teaching resources such as
instructional material, software and even course practices, in my opinion, will have a positive impact on
student’s attitudes and perceptions of learning.

In my opinion, there is a positive benefit in the reflection on practice by educators that accompanies
OER adoption that includes but is not limited by its use to supplement formal education for both
learners and institutions, as it has the potential to improve retention, performance and recruitment by
allowing both students and teachers to easily access any form of knowledge as well as share and update
said information to meet their educational needs. Furthermore, the financial benefits it provides are
undeniable as OERs allow the educational sector to access all of this information for free instead of
spending money on textbooks. Other advantages of free resources beyond just the cost saving include
having access to the material immediately, as the practice is often to wait until a course had commenced
to evaluate whether a costly textbook was worth buying. Moreover, enabling educators to assume that
all students had access to the resource.

However, I feel that there will also be negative impacts that emerge from this open aspect. This is due to
the use of open licensing by users that adapt OER materials which will allow learners to benefit from
improved course design, resources or teaching in a manner that eases the completion of assignments
and homeworks to an unproductive degree.

In conclusion, OERs may have a positive impact for learners, educators and institutions as a whole
making a compelling case for high quality, free resources being released. Emphasizing the free, online,
digital nature of OERs, and not the openly licensed aspect. Thus, this new open educational resource
program has proven beneficial for both students and teachers with slightly problematic areas that must
be adjusted in order to provide a free universal form of education while keeping tabs on individual
student searches and efforts.