People do everything they can to get into school and study. However, with the present economic crisis, everyone is tightening their belts to pay for daily necessities to the point that getting an education becomes only an option. Individuals are choosing to work rather than study even if they have the desire to do so. Aiming to address this problem, concerned parties have thought of ways to make education more affordable. Hence, open educational resources (OER) were introduced.
Open educational resources are digital educational materials that remain in the public domain which can be re-used for teaching, learning, research and more. These are made available for free through open licenses. Though OER alone cannot grant someone a degree, it gives one greater passing rates. Also, open educational resources allow continuous education for professionals. OER may be categorized into three kinds of digital assets specifically learning contents such as course materials, tools like supporting software for the creation, delivery, use and improvement, searching and organization of learning content and others. Last is implementation resources including intellectual property licenses that govern open publishing of materials.
A field of education wherein desires for open educational resources have been evident is in the field of construction and engineering. For our future built environment professionals, open educational resources can help them further in understanding the different aspects of their line. Students in universities can access these materials in their free time to have a better understanding of their lessons. Even instructors use these as media to help their students achieve better grades. Going more into the benefits of open educational resources in construction and engineering will show how beneficial it is to students. There is a greater chance for the improvement of quality of education for both students and instructors due to the increased knowledge, appreciation and use of construction and engineering designs. There will also be more individuals desiring to engage in the industry. With people out of formal education who can be called independent learners, knowing more of about the industry can encourage them to get a degree. Since it is online, there can be an exchange of educational materials to and from different parts of the world.
As mentioned, it is not only students who benefit from OER but professionals as well. A specific website relates that teaching and learning materials can be used for professionals to have accurate knowledge of what is new with the industry. Some materials can be focused on strengthening the core knowledge about the fundamentals of construction and engineering. Others can be focused on helping them learn more about some areas of the field wherein there is potential growth for specialization. Then there are still some that can be dedicated to stretching the minds of professionals aiming to shape the future with innovations.
Many websites already have open educational resources including those of construction and engineering. It would be wise for students and professionals alike to take advantage of these to widen their knowledge about their field.