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Open Educational Resources: Research on Open Educational Resources

Open educational and open source resources

Research on OER

Bliss, T., Robinson, T.J., Hilton, J. and Wiley, D.A., 2013. An OER COUP: College Teacher and Student Perceptions of Open Educational Resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2013(1), 4. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/2013-04

  • Sixty-three percent of teachers believed that their students were equally prepared in the course with Open texts compared to students in the same course before implementation of Open texts. Another 26 percent felt that their students were more prepared than students in the same course in the past.

Hilton, J. Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018. Education Tech Research Dev 68, 853–876 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09700-4

  • This study synthesizes results involving 121,168 students or faculty. Results across these studies suggest students achieve the same or better learning outcomes when using OER while saving significant amounts of money. The results also indicate that the majority of faculty and students who have used OER had a positive experience and would do so again.

Jung, E., Bauer, C., & Heaps, A. (2017). Higher education faculty perceptions of open textbook adoption. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i4.3120

  • Overall, the findings suggest that a significant amount of financial savings and a number of pedagogical shifts can be supported by the use of OpenStax textbooks.

Spilovoy, T., Seaman, J., & Ralph, N. (2020). The Impact of OER Initiatives on Faculty Selection of Classroom Materials. https://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/impactofoerinitiatives.pdf

  • The adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) is on the rise, driven in part by increasing awareness of OER. But while faculty and institutions have shown increasing awareness and acceptance of OER, many remain unfamiliar with what they are, or how to utilize them.

Watson, C. E., Domizi, D. P., & Clouser, S. A. (2017). Student and faculty perceptions of openstax in high enrollment courses. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i5.2462

  • Regarding quality, faculty and student perceptions alike perceived the content available in OpenStax Biology to be comparable to similar textbooks produced by traditional publishers; however, students recognized additional benefits to the OER textbook, including its search-ability, portability, and the professor's capability to deep link to specific passages from the course's larger organization structure as developed within the institution's learning management system.

Appedu, S., Elmquist, M., Wertzberger, J., & Birch, S. (2021). Inequitable impacts of textbook costs at a small, private college: Results from a textbook survey at Gettysburg College. Open Praxis, 13(1), 69. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.13.1.1147

  • A study from Gettysburg College, where most students spent $300 in Fall 2019. Financial aid awards did not cover the cost of required books and course materials for most students receiving aid. Negative effects were more pronounced for first-generation students and Pell Grant recipients, who were more likely to not purchase required books, to not register for a course due to cost, and to struggle academically.

Hilton, J. Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018. Education Tech Research Dev 68, 853–876 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09700-4

  • This study synthesizes results involving 121,168 students or faculty. Results across these studies suggest students achieve the same or better learning outcomes when using OER while saving significant amounts of money. The results also indicate that the majority of faculty and students who have used OER had a positive experience and would do so again.

Jhangiani, R. S., Dastur, F. N., Le Grand, R., & Penner, K. (2018). As good or better than commercial textbooks: Students’ perceptions and outcomes from using open digital and open print textbooks. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2018.1.5

  • This study investigates the perceptions, use, and course performance of Canadian post-secondary students assigned a commercial or open textbook in either print or digital format. Results show that students using the print format of the open textbook perceive its quality to be superior to the commercial textbook. Moreover, students assigned an open textbook in either format perform either no differently from or better than those assigned a commercial textbook.

LeMire, S., Anders K.C., & Pantuso, T. (2024) Exploring First Generation Student Experiences with OER Textbooks. College & Research Libraries, 85(7). https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/24958/34450

  • This case study explores how first-generation students perceive their textbooks, particularly in areas of cost savings and format. The study discovered that these students are concerned about the cost of textbooks and experience financial challenges. Students also are not always aware of textbook costs until the first day of classes. Providing this information as soon as possible is important. OER adoption can be one way to provide equitable access to course materials. 

Vojtech, G., & Grissett, J. (2017). Student Perceptions of College Faculty Who Use OER. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i4.3032

  • Participants rated faculty using an open textbook higher on kindness, encouragement, and creativity than faculty using a traditional copyrighted textbook, and were more likely to want to take a class with faculty using an open textbook. Participants frequently mentioned textbook cost in their justifications.

Donaldson, R. L., Nelson, D. W., & Thomas, E. (2012). 2012 Florida Student Textbook Survey. Florida Virtual Campus.

  • Textbook costs continue to take a toll on students financially and academically. More than half (64%) reported not having purchased the required textbook because of the high cost, and almost one-fourth reported doing without frequently (23%). Academically, 45% reported not registering, 49% took fewer courses, 27% dropped a course, and 21% withdrew from a course.

Ikahihifo, T. K., Spring, K. J., Rosecrans, J., & Watson, J. (2017). Assessing the savings from open educational resources on student academic goals. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(7). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i7.2754

  • It is estimated that students in the 11 OER pilot courses during the Spring 2015 semester saved over $34,000. Three major areas emerged from participant responses about how they used the money: reinvesting in education, day-to-day expenses, and savings.

Nagle, C. & K. Vitez (2021). Fixing the broken textbook market. U.S. PIRG Education. https://uspirg.org/reports/usp/fixing-broken-textbook-market-third-edition

  • Students continue to skip buying assigned textbooks despite concerns it will impact their grade; More students are skipping access codes during the pandemic; COVID-19 is hitting students hard and impacts course material affordability; Lack of reliable internet correlates with significant issues for course material access and student success; Food insecure students skip buying course materials at significantly higher rate

Senack, E. (2014). Open textbooks: The billion-dollar solution. Center for Public Interest Research, Inc. Retrieved from http://www. studentpirgs. org/reports/sp/open-textbooksbillion-dollar-solution.

  • In a survey of 2,039 students from more than 150 different university campuses across the country, 65% of all respondents said that they had decided against buying a textbook because it was expensive.

 

Colvard, N., Watson, C. & 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), 262-276

  • Reports a one-third reduction in DFW rate among minority and Pell-eligible students in courses which switched to OER.

Fischer, L., Hilton III, J., Robinson, T. J., & Wiley, D. A. (2015). 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, 27(3), 159-172.

  • A large-scale study from ten institutions across the United States, enrolled in 15 different undergraduate courses. In three key measures of student success—course completion, final grade of C- or higher, course grade– students whose faculty chose OER generally performed as well or better than students whose faculty assigned commercial textbooks.

Hilton, J., & Laman, C. (2012). One college’s use of an open psychology textbook. Open Learning, 27(3), 265–272. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657

  • During the fall semester, 2011, 690 students used this book. Compared to students using a traditional text in the spring of 2011, students who used the free online textbook scored higher on departmental final exams, had higher GPAs in the class and higher retention rates.

Winitzky-Stephens, J., & Pickavance, J. (2017). Open Educational Resources and Student Course Outcomes: A Multilevel Analysis. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 18(4), 35–49.

  • There is some evidence that OER can be of particular benefit to new students. While it has no effect on likelihood of passing or withdrawing from a course, it is associated with an increase in course grade of 0.1367: small, but not insignificant.