Research Guides: Open Educational Resources: Overview

OER at Lehman

OER Starter Kit

OER Starter Kit
This starter kit has been created to provide instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of open educational resources (OER). The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER.

Research on Open Textbook Adoption Efficacy

Open Education Group Research Review
A summary of all known empirical research on the impacts of OER adoption.

Multi-institutional Study of the Impact of Open Textbooks
Study of 16,000 students across 10 institutions, compares several measures of student academic success between those using open textbooks and those using traditional textbooks.
Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College Open Textbooks
Results shows that OER enables a majority of educators to better respond to student needs, making teaching easier, and changing teaching practices.

The Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics
Results indicate that OER adoption does much more than simply save students money. OER improve end-of-course grades and decrease DFW (D, F, and Withdrawal letter grades) rates for all students. They also improve course grades and decrease DFW rates at greater rates for Pell recipient students, part-time students, and populations historically underserved by higher education. OER address affordability, completion, attainment gap concerns, and learning. These findings contribute to a broadening perception of the value of OERs and their relevance to the great challenges facing higher education today.

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are "high-quality teaching, learning, and research materials that are free for people everywhere to use and repurpose." - The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Open - Openly Licensed to Support "5R" Benefits - Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute.

Educational - Designed for educational use.

Resources - Materials that support teaching and learning, including textbooks, video, assessments, etc.

OER materials are released under an open license granting permission for every one to:

Retain -- users have the right to make, archive, and own copies of the content
Reuse -- content can be reused in its unaltered form
Revise -- content can be adapted, adjusted, modified, and altered
Remix -- original or revised content can be combined with other content to create something new
Redistribute -- copies of the content can be shared with others in its original, revised or remixed form.

OER include learning materials such as:

open textbooks
full courses
modules
syllabi
lectures
homework assignments
quizzes
lab activities
games
simulations