Free vs. Freedom in Open Education

Financially motivated adoption – Institutions prioritize free OER options primarily for budgetary relief, rather than pedagogical benefits.

Potential for global sharing and collaboration – Open licenses encourage the use and modification of resources worldwide.

Focus on academic empowerment – Highlighting the flexibility OER provides to educators and students alike.

Advocating for open pedagogy – Promoting OER as tools that enable innovative teaching and learning approaches.

Student engagement through creation – Inviting students to contribute by updating or creating OER materials themselves.

Relevant to high-cost educational settings – Emphasizing the cost-saving benefit in regions with high textbook costs.

Appeal to student groups – Presenting OER as zero-cost resources, which directly benefits students financially.

Supporting pedagogical flexibility – Enabling faculty to reshape materials for specific course goals, beyond just using them as-is.

Instructor convenience – OER as a simple swap for commercial textbooks, without requiring adaptation.

Replacing costly textbooks with free versions – Using OER to lower student expenses without necessarily changing teaching approaches.

Permission to adapt and remix content – Encouraging educational freedom by allowing modifications to resources.

Primary focus on affordability – Emphasizing cost savings as the main benefit of OER.