OER Impact
Hoping to learn more? There have been multiple studies on faculty implementations, misunderstandings, acceptance of, and evaluation of OER. The Review Project has curated a number of empirical studies published in scholarly journals on the topic. Their general conclusion is:
Once adopted, OER provide the permissions necessary for faculty to engage in a wide range of pedagogical innovations. In each of the studies reported above, OER were used in manner very similar to the traditional textbooks they replaced. We look forward to reviewing empirical articles describing the learning impacts of open pedagogies.
Selected Resources on OER and Open Pedagogy
- Selected Resources on OER and Open Pedagogy 2015-2019 - Bibliography
ICC Humanities Professor, Dr. James Decker developed this selected list of resources on OER and Open Pedagogy. Click on the list above to access the full list or scroll down for direct article links and summaries.
Discipline-Specific Resources on OER and Open Pedagogy 2015-2019
- Integrating open educational resources into undergraduate business coursesThe authors examine multiple OER options for business classes and discuss how they employed OER into various marketing and management courses. The authors acknowledged that it took considerable faculty time to adopt OER, but they noted more benefits than drawbacks.
- But you can’t do that in a STEM course!Cangialosi discusses how to increase student agency in a biology course by using open pedagogy. She demonstrates that the public nature of the assignments improves collaboration and enhances critical thinking.
- What impacts do OER have on students? Students share their experiences with a health psychology OER at New York City College of TechnologyCooney surveyed psychology students about OER and discovered that students felt that their study habits and organization improved. Students also suggested that faculty tailor the OER to the course curriculum and eliminate unneeded material.
- On the efficacy of open educational resources: Parametric and nonparametric Analyses of a university calculus classDelgado and her co-authors performed a controlled study that compared student performance using OER to those who used traditional commercial textbooks. They concluded that students who used OER were less likely to withdraw but performed 2% worse in the course (this was less than the effect of switching to another section, however).
- Implementation of open educational resources in a nursing programme: Experiences and reflectionsElf and her co-authors determined that using OER in a “flipped” classroom helped their students become more self-directed and prepared for class discussion. The faculty involved felt that they were able to devote more time to mentoring and facilitating.
- Writing commons: A model for the creation, usability, and evaluation of OERsHerron examined a popular OER site for composition, Writing Commons: The Home for Writers,
which contains hundreds of quality resources for writing courses. Herron found that traditional composition was represented far more than business writing, technical writing, and the like, but that they were actively seeking materials. - Evaluating the effectiveness of adopting open educational resources in an introductory American government courseLawrence and Lester noted that OER texts for government courses were limited and lacked ancillary material. They concluded, however, that students performed roughly the same as they did with traditional texts.
Selected Resources on OER and Open Pedagogy 2015-2019
- The brightly illuminated path: Facilitating an OER program at a community collegeBlick and Marcus describe the implementation of an OER program at Queensborough Community College. The authors stress that library-faculty partnerships are essential to building a vibrant OER program.
- Open educational resources: An annotated bibliography for librariansThe author annotates seventeen OER resources (2014-2017). Bober focuses on the role of the library in assisting with OER location.
- The impact of open education resources on various student success metricsThe authors examine the benefits of OER for students beyond cost. They conclude that OER reduces DFW rates, improved student learning, and positively impact at-risk student populations.
- The impact of enrollment in an OER course on student learning outcomesGrewe and Davis found a significant positive correlation between OER use and student achievement. The authors focused on community college students.
- Open educational resources and college textbook choices: A review of research of efficacy and perceptionsThe author performs a literature review of sixteen studies dealing with either the impact of OER on student learning outcomes or student perceptions of OER. Hilton concludes that students using OER achieve course learning outcomes consistent with those who use traditional textbooks.
- Open educational resources’ impact and outcomes: The essence of OpenKnowledge and its social contributionThe authors examine the OER phenomenon and suggest that OER may be merely the beginning of a larger cultural shift toward open education. They also argue that OER have broader social benefits, particularly in terms of educating marginalized groups.
- Women’s empowerment through openness: OER, OEP and the sustainable development goalsThe authors demonstrate that OER can benefit women both as students and as instructors. In particular, “bottom-up” approaches to OER lead to greater collaboration and stronger learning communities.
- I’m never doing this again!: Identifying and solving faculty challenges in adoption of open educational resourcesTaylor and Taylor list five key challenges with developing and using OER, including time, expertise, motivation, standardization, and subject matter. They then present nine potential solutions.
- Student and faculty perceptions of OpenStax in high enrollment coursesWatson and his co-authors surveyed 1299 students (and the three faculty members who taught them) about the benefits and drawbacks of OER. Students and faculty found the OER comparable to traditional textbooks, and most preferred the searchability of the electronic texts.
- Participant experiences and financial impacts: Findings from year 2 of Achieving the Dream’s OER degree initiativeGriffiths and her co-authors examine data from 38 community colleges taking part in an OER
initiative. They concluded that in addition to lowering student costs, OER reduced time to degree completion, increased access and equity, and improved pedagogy.
Resources on Open Pedagogy 2015-2019
- Attributes of open pedagogy: A model for using open educational resourcesThe author lists and defines eight attributes of open pedagogy. Hegarty further provides examples for each of the eight attributes.
- Design of open content social learning that increases learning efficiency and engagement based on open pedagogyThe authors examine how best to use OER material for learners who are less self-directed. They
created a database that adapted course content to learner history and those of similar learners. - Effects of open textbook adoption on teachers’ open practicesMason and Kimmons explored the impact of OER on instructor pedagogy and determined that
many instructors altered their curricula. They also found that OER increased collaboration around
curriculum design, although it slightly dropped during the semester, possibly because ancillary
material was created beforehand. - Defining OER-enabled pedagogyWiley and Hilton investigate the history of open pedagogy and provide examples of various types of
OER-enabled strategies. The authors suggest that authentic, constructionist, and renewable
assignments can enhance student learning.