OER: The What and the Why

OER: The What

Defining OER

Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely available learning materials that can be copied, edited, and shared to better serve all students. They are openly licensed (for example, via Creative Commons), meaning that the resources can be retained, reused, revised, remixed, and redistributed (see the 5 “R”s below).

The Open Education movement is rooted in the human right to access high-quality education. This movement aims to reduce costs by providing access to openly licensed content. In addition, the movement aims to expand opportunities to participate in creating and sharing education.

This 4-minute video provides a clear and helpful introduction to OER:

[Additional viewing options: Turn on closed captions with the "CC" button, or use this text transcript if you prefer to read.]

Defining the 5 “R”s

The terms "open content" and "open educational resources" describe any copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software, which is described by other terms like "open source") that is licensed to give users free and perpetual permission to engage in what are known as the 5R activities:

Retain - the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)

Reuse - the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)

Revise - the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)

Remix - the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)

Redistribute - the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)

Additional Resources

About OER – A helpful list of resources from the Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER)

What are Creative Commons and Open Licenses? (BCcampus) – describes the copyright licenses offered through Creative Commons, as well as what public domain means.

OER Mythbusting – compiled by the organization SPARC, this resource addresses the top seven myths about OER in North American higher education, as voted on by more than 100 faculty, librarians, students, and other members of the OER community.

"If the average college student spends approximately $1000 per year on textbooks and yet performs scholastically no better than the student who utilizes free OER, what exactly is being purchased with that $1000?" (Hilton, 2016).

OER: The Why

Research on Efficacy

In 2016, John Hilton conducted a meta-analysis of research on OER. The study synthesizes the results of 16 OER studies that examined the influence of OER on student outcomes, or student and faculty perceptions of OER. Hilton (2020) published a follow-up meta-analysis to include OER research conducted through 2018. This more comprehensive study came to the same conclusions. Both analyses found that:

Students achieve the same or better learning outcomes when using OER while saving significant amounts of money.

The majority of faculty and students who have used OER had a positive experience and would do so again.

Here is a five-minute video summarizing the findings of the 2016 study:

[Additional viewing options: Turn on closed captions with the "CC" button, or use this text transcript if you prefer to read.]

OER & Education Equity

Textbook costs should not be a barrier to education. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016) show that the price of college textbooks increased 88% from January 2006 to July 2016. If we take a longer look back — from January 1977 to June 2015 — the increase is even more startling. During this time period, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show a 1,041% increase in college textbook prices, which is over three times the rate of inflation (Popken, 2015). College students face steep price tags that can make the cost of learning higher than the cost of attending a college or university. Using OER solves this problem because the material is free online, affordable in print, and can be saved forever.

Students learn more when they have access to quality materials. The rapidly rising cost of textbooks in higher education has left many students without access to the materials they need to succeed. According to the organization SPARC in Open Education, studies show that 93% of students who use OER do as well or better than those using traditional materials, since they have easy access to the content starting day one of the course.

Openly licensed materials increase currency and relevance. Imagine a science textbook that incorporates the latest results from a laboratory, or a math tutorial that incorporates local landmarks into word problems. This and more is possible when instructional materials are created to be shared and improved digitally and legally!

Additional Resources

Advocate for Open Education (BCcampus)

OER Research & Helpful Resources (CCCOER)

Attributions

5R's: Adapted from "Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources" by David Wiley, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Clinton, V., & Khan, S. (2019). Efficacy of open textbook adoption on learning performance and course withdrawal rates: A meta-analysis. AERA Open, 5(3), licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Colvard, N., Watson, C. E., & Park, H. (2018). The impact of open educational resources on various student success metrics. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 30(2).

Elder, A. (2017, December 13). An introduction to Open Educational Resources [Video]. YouTube, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Hilton, J. (2016). Open educational resources and college textbook choices: A review of research on efficacy and perceptions, Educational Technology Research and Development, 64(4), 2016, 573-590, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Hilton, J. (2020). Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018, Educational Technology Research and Development, 68, 853–876, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Making the Case for ZTC: Pathways to Equity by Aloha Sargent and James Glapa-Grossklag, for the California Community Colleges’ Zero Textbook Cost Degree program, is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

McKenzie, L. (2018, July 16). Free digital textbooks vs. purchased commercial textbooks.

"Open Education" by SPARC, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Popken, Ben. (2015, August 6). College textbook prices have risen 1,041 percent since 1977. NBC News.

Research Shorts. (2016, December 2). A review of the effectiveness & perceptions of Open Educational Resources as compared to textbooks [Video]. YouTube, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016, August 30). College tuition and fees increase 63 percent since January 2006. TED: The Economics Daily.