Open Educational Resources
About OERs
Did You Know?
The average student should budget $1250 a year for books and suppliers.
- College Board
7 in 10 students have chosen not to purchase a textbook because it was too expensive.
- Chronicle of Higher Education
Over the past two decades, textbook prices have risen at four times the rate of inflation.
On average, the cost of a new edition of a textbook is 12% higher than the previous one.
Just 5 textbook publishers control more than 80% of the 8.8 billion dollar market.
What are Open Educational Resources?
Open Educational Resources are educational materials offered freely and openly for anyone to use. Most licenses allow resources to be shared, remixed or customized for your class. Open educational resources include textbooks, full courses, course materials, modules, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other resources used to support access to knowledge.
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Open Educational Resources are free and openly licensed educational materials that can be used for teaching, learning, research, and other purposes.
The 5 R's of Open Educational Resources
Using Open Educational Resources can create an educational environment that is flexible, cost effective and relevant to students and instructors alike.
Some benefits of using OER in higher education:
- Remove the expense of textbooks for learners
- Increased access to quality, up to date, and peer reviewed materials
- Increased use of current and emerging technology
- Increased potential for collaboration
- Access to supplemental learning
- Increased digital literacy
- Preservation and availability of materials for endangered subjects
- Open access to legacy materials
Instructors can provide peer reviewed, up to date information to students. Collaboration with instructors at other institutions presents an opportunity to have greater input into the conversation surrounding areas of interest.
Take a look at the OER Digest, where you can sign up for a free email subscription for the latest news about Open Educational Resources.
This guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. (CC BY 4.0)
