What are the advantages of OERs?
OERs remove barriers to access
“Not only does OER reassign purchasing power to students and drastically reduce the cost of learning materials, it also has the potential of improving student access to materials. … The reduced cost of OER, in addition to its immediate on-demand nature via the Internet, provides students with the materials that they need to be successful in a course from day one.”
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). A Study on Open Educational Resources and Their Potential for Use at Texas Colleges and Universities. 2014, http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/6377.PDF?CFID=92780188&CFTOKEN=90113460.
OERs save students money
“Both faculty and department chairpersons believe that the cost of required teaching material can be a serious issue for their students. However, it appears that institutions are leaving this up to their faculty to deal with, with only a small fraction of faculty aware of any institutional-level cost initiative. Faculty are acting independently, employing a variety of actions designed to help control costs for the student.”
Seaman, Julia E., and Jeff Seaman. Freeing the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2018. Babson Survey Research Group, 2018, https://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/freeingthetextbook2018.pdf.
OERs improve the student learning experience
“Students using open textbooks “had access to all the course materials from the very first day of class because they were openly licensed. Consequently, we would expect some enhanced probability of success for members of the [group using OERs].”
Fischer, Lane, et al. “A Multi-Institutional Study of the Impact of Open Textbook Adoption on the Learning Outcomes of Post-Secondary Students.” Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 27, no. 3, Dec. 2015, pp. 159–72. Crossref, doi:10.1007/s12528-015-9101-x.
OERs are on par with traditional teaching materials
“A 2016 review of 16 studies that examined the impacts or perceptions of OER on learning outcomes found that “students generally achieve the same learning outcomes when OER are utilized and simultaneously save significant amounts of money. Studies across a variety of settings indicate that both students and faculty are generally positive regarding OER.”
Hilton, John. “Open Educational Resources and College Textbook Choices: A Review of Research on Efficacy and Perceptions.” Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 64, no. 4, Aug. 2016, pp. 573–90. Crossref, doi:10.1007/s11423-016-9434-9.
OERs increase instructor engagement
OER also give instructors access to materials and teaching methods used by others who teach similar classes, prerequisites and higher-level courses, which supports the more rapid transfer of high-impact teaching methods than would otherwise occur.
Plotkin, Hal. Free to Learn: An Open Educational Resources Policy Development Guidebook for Community College Governance Officials. Creative Commons, 2010, https://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/67/FreetoLearnGuide.pdf.
OERs align pedagogy with other open initiatives
“In the education and research ecosystem, OER and OA form two important interventions that works in an integrated fashion to promote the quality of learning and generate new knowledge.”
Swan, Alma. Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 2012.
OERs foster increased equity and social justice
A recent study at the University of Georgia found that the adoption of OERs in courses had an overall positive effect on students’ final grades, particularly for non-white students. It also found a measurable decrease in the number of students who failed or withdrew from a course when OERs were adopted, with that decrease being more significant for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, the study found that the adoption of OERs significantly benefitted part-time students, an often overlooked group; the study found an over 50% increase in average course grade and an almost 30% decrease in DFW rates for part-time students.
Colvard, Nicholas B., et al. “The Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics.” International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, vol. 30, no. 2, 2018, pp. 262–76.
OERs combat predatory educational publishing
37% of US faculty surveyed in 2018 make third-party proprietary homework systems a course requirement. This rises to nearly one-half (48%) among faculty teaching large enrolment introductory-level undergraduate courses. If students want to earn marks in the course, they have to purchase access to these homework systems.
Seaman, Julia E., and Jeff Seaman. Freeing the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2018. Babson Survey Research Group, 2018, https://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/freeingthetextbook2018.pdf.
OERs enhance institutional image
For many institutions, such as community colleges or land grant institutions that have deep histories of community outreach, incentivizing the development of OER materials by their faculty fits with their historic mission of making learning and knowledge available to everyone, including those learners who are outside of their campus communities.
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). A Study on Open Educational Resources and Their Potential for Use at Texas Colleges and Universities. 2014, http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/6377.PDF?CFID=92780188&CFTOKEN=90113460.