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Description
This concept paper focuses on the strategic advantages and Return on Investment (ROI) possible from a transition to Open Educational Resources (OER) from the dependence on traditional commercial textbooks that is common in primary and secondary public education (PSPE). An OER value proposition includes an analysis of pedagogical and quality issues pertaining to OER and a listing of the challenges and barriers to effective open textbook implementations.The advantages of open texts for PSPE schools are outlined, arguing for the effective exploitation of the educational affordances of tablets and other devices. The ROI of conversion to OER are costed along with the description of cases using different approaches to building an OER ecology, followed by OER policy recommendations. Schools at all levels are implementing technology initiatives with tablets and other mobile devices. For the effective exploitation of the educational affordances of these devices, OER, in the form of texts or modules are needed. These include features such as personalised or localised lessons and the creation of different versions to meet diverse needs. OER can also be ported or reformatted for various applications and media without restrictions. And, education budgets can be maximised with OER when funds can be used to sustain OER rather than supporting commercial textbooks. OER can help to optimize the effectiveness of textbooks across the education system. OER textbook implementation can be viewed as a catalyst for educational change especially when introduced along with tablets and other mobile devices (eg Bring Your Own Device) which can quite reasonably be assumed to become the norm in education worldwide. The effective use of resources on digital media demands open content such as open texts. The restrictions placed on commercial texts severely limit and often derail the effective use of digital devices, inhibiting educational activities, such as sharing, collaborating, mixing, reusing and adapting course materials. OERin the form of textbooks or other resources allow teachers and students to take full advantage of the world’s intellectual commons that is the Internet.
