Open Educational Resources: An Annotated Bibliography for Librarians

Abstract

Open educational resources (OER), now in their 15th year of existence, consists of, in principle, fully open educational content, available for free to all and are adaptable to serve the needs of the user. They were created as a response to the high cost of textbooks and as a means of leveling the playing field in terms of ensuring equal access to education for disadvantaged populations. The selected resources below attest to the fact that a concerted effort is well underway to address and overcome these challenges. Institutions are increasingly investing in OER as research has demonstrated that they have a positive role to play in student learning. Libraries, already champions of copyright and open access initiatives, have the expertise to advocate for and collaborate on efforts to further the growth and impact of open educational resources both within their institutions and beyond.

How Much Do Faculty Think Students Should Pay for Course Materials? A Survey of Instructors’ Use of Current Course Materials and OER Use

“…The explosion of literature investigating OER use, faculty and student perception, and the impact of OER and open textbook adoptions has warranted several literature reviews (Wiley et al, 2014;Bober, 2017;Clinton & Khan, 2019). A recent study (Hilton, 2020) reviewed 16 efficacy and 20 perceptions studies to conclude that faculty and students alike have positive experiences with OER and that the students have the same or better learning outcomes.…”