OER at CityTech

There’s been a recent surge of interest in Open Educational Resources, and state funding to help CUNY and SUNY adopt OER. But what do students here at CityTech think of the new resources?
We asked a few CityTech students for feedback, and here are some of their responses.

What does the student mean by “interactive”?
With an OER, it’s easier to embed different types of content into the course. Because the OER are hosted on the OpenLab, WordPress plugins can be use to enhance the experience – allowing students to annotate the materials, share work with one another, and add their responses directly on the site.

Another student notes the ease of use with an OER – instead of a heavy, print textbook, or course texts that are found in multiple places, OER offers a home for all of the course materials online.
This can be a huge boost to students who have less access to technology, since the materials are readable on all devices. It also helps to solve the problem of paying for course texts, since these materials are completely free.

One last CityTech student sums it up – OER are informative, accessible, and free! It’s the combination of these elements that allows OER to provide a true alternative to the traditional textbook publishing model.
Instead of a textbook that is under copyright, and cannot be modified, an OER material can be changed so that it fits the course or student population as needed. OER are also free, which as the student notes, “is a plus.”
Let us know if you have any questions! Feel free to reach out to Prof. Cailean Cooney, OER Coordinator, at ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu