A substantial body of literature investigates the implementation and efficacy of open educational resources (OER) in higher education. We have provided citations for articles that provide quality overviews on institutional use of OER, student outcomes, and faculty-specific concerns.
Incentivizing the Production and Use of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education Institutions
Annand, D., & Jensen, T. (2017). Incentivizing the Production and Use of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education Institutions. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4).
Annand and Jensen reviewed existing literature on institutional barriers to implementing OERs before describing methods of developing an OER at a research-oriented, publicly funded North American University. The authors discussed the outcomes and how other institutions can avoid impediments to implementation.
The OER Starter Kit
Elder, A. K. (2019). The OER Starter Kit. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Digital Press.
This free e-book provides an introduction to open educational resources in addition to more advanced topics.
The role of open access and open educational resources: a distance learning perspective
Hatzipanagos, S., & Gregson, J. (2015). The role of open access and open educational resources: a distance learning perspective. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 13(2), 97-105.
The authors reviewed Open Access and OERs, including the benefits and disadvantages of each, before outlining results from a mixed-methods study designed to identify understanding and opportunities for the future. The study identified future possibilities of open resources and provides recommendations for all in this area.
Open access journals in educational technology: Results of a survey of experienced users
Perkins, R. A., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2016). Open access journals in educational technology: Results of a survey of experienced users. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 32(3), 18-37.
Perkins, et al., conducted a two-part web-based survey of educational technology scholars to determine which open access journals (OAJs) were considered valuable despite widespread skepticism regarding cost, fraud, presence of peer review, and general quality, and found that published scholars of Euro-Australasian or North American origin believe OAJs have great impact; further, a top 5 of such journals emerged as influential, with various characteristics determining OAJ importance or prestige, with a resulting ranking order. They recommend pursuing and paying for as needed: freely accessible and freely received and published OAJs.
Review of the book Interactive open educational resources: A guide to finding, choosing, and using what’s out there to transform college teaching
Rodriguez, S. L. (2016). Review of the book Interactive open educational resources: A guide to finding, choosing, and using what’s out there to transform college teaching, by John Shank. The Review of Higher Education 39(3) (Spring), 469-470.
Rodriguez summarized and favorably critiqued Shank’s work on best practices in OER, noting sections on interactivity in learning resources, the locating of such resources, and the selecting and using thereof, all the while identifying key players and citing several platforms and LMSs in use. Shank alerts readers that educational stakeholders, not the for-profits, should lead the way in OER.
Student outcomes
The impact of open educational resources on various student success metrics
Colvard, N. B., Watson, C. E., & 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.
Colvard et al. analyzed student achievement data in introductory classes from 2010 to 2016 for over 21,000 students including such variables as open educational resources (OER), financial need, ethnicity, and full- and part-time student status. Their findings indicated that the use of OER in this study improved course grades and reduced non-passing grades and withdrawals overall, for students with financial need, for part-time students, and for students in underserved populations.
What Impacts do OER Have on Students? Students Share Their Experiences with a Health Psychology OER at New York City College of Technology
Cooney, C. (2017). What Impacts do OER Have on Students? Students Share Their Experiences with a Health Psychology OER at New York City College of Technology. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4).
Cooney used a mixed-methods (interviews and brief surveys) approach to study the effects of using an OER in three sections of a health psychology class at a Brooklyn college. The majority of students reported better accessibility and quality at least as good as that of traditional textbooks, but a few students reported usability problems and being unable to acquire the technology necessary to view the OER.
A multi-institutional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students
Fischer, L., Hilton, 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.
The authors used propensity-score matched groups to compare completion rates, grades, and enrollment of students taking courses utilizing OER versus a traditional textbook. Results suggested minimal differences in completion rates (in favor of OER) and mixed results for grades, but students using courses with OER were enrolling in a significantly greater number of hours per semester.
The Impact of Enrollment in an OER Course on Student Learning Outcomes
Grewe, K., & Davis, W. P. (2017). The Impact of Enrollment in an OER Course on Student Learning Outcomes. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4), 231-238.
Grewe and Davis compared student outcomes in introductory history courses that either used OERs or traditional textbooks while accounting for past student performance (GPA). Results suggest that there is a moderate, positive relationship between student performance and taking a class using OER.
Do open educational resources improve student learning? Implications of the access hypothesis
Grimaldi, P. J., Basu Mallick, D., Waters, A. E., Baraniuk, R. G. (2019). Do open educational resources improve student learning? Implications of the access hypothesis. PloS ONE 14(3).
The authors provide potential reasons for no significant difference findings on achievement in classes using open educational resources versus those using commercial textbooks. One of the factors they explore is access rate, for students previously unable to purchase commercial textbooks now with access to all materials. The authors conduct a number of simulation studies to demonstrate why most OER studies of learning outcomes will result in null effects.
Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018
Hilton III, J. L. (2019). Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018. Educational Technology Research and Development, 1-24.
Hilton summarizes 36 recent studies focusing on open educational resources in this helpful review. In terms of outcomes, the use of open educational resources helps students financially, results in the same or better achievement, and receives positive reviews by students and instructors.
Use of open educational resources: How, why and why not?
Islim, O. F., Koybasi, N. A. G., & Cagiltay, K. (2016). Use of open educational resources: How, why and why not? International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 28(2), 230-240.
Islim et al. studied the use of OER supplements in a traditional physics laboratory course versus their use as a resource for self-learners in that course. They reported that OER benefitted the learning process for self-learners, yet more than half of the respondents found supplementary resources unnecessary in public access mode.
Effects of an open educational resources initiative on students, faculty and instructional designers
Piña, A. A., & Moran, K. (2018). Effects of an open educational resources initiative on students, faculty and instructional designers. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 21(2).
Piña and Moran provide a perception study based on interviews with students, instructors and instructional designers for an OER project as well as results of a quantitative study.
Open Educational Resources and Student Course Outcomes: A Multilevel Analysis
Winitzky-Stephens, J. R., & Pickavance, J. (2017). Open Educational Resources and Student Course Outcomes: A Multilevel Analysis. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4), 35-49.
Using multilevel modeling techniques, the authors studied student outcomes in several courses at a community college that were using OERs compared with equivalent courses being taught with traditional textbooks. OERs had no significant effect on grades for continuing students, but new students had slightly higher grades when taking courses using OER.
Faculty adoption of OER
Rating the Quality of Open Textbooks: How Reviewer and Text Characteristics Predict Ratings
Fischer, L., Ernst, D., & Mason, S. L. (2017). Rating the Quality of Open Textbooks: How Reviewer and Text Characteristics Predict Ratings. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4), 142-154.
Faculty (N=416) from the US and Canada rated 121 OER textbooks from the Open Textbook Library at the University of Minnesota on ten criteria using a 5-point rating scale. OERs were generally rated favorably, and the authors suggest that online ratings could be used as a guide to help consumers.
Faculty members’ instructional priorities for adopting OER
Jung, I., & Hong, S. (2016). Faculty members’ instructional priorities for adopting OER. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(6), 28-44.
Jung and Hong classified faculty priorities for OER adoption via in-depth interviews from instructors of varied regions, using NVivo 10 and, while resulting in unexpected prioritizing and regional variation, the findings still allowed the proposal of an elaborate general model.
In search for the open educator: Proposal of a definition and a framework to increase openness adoption among university educators
Nascimbeni, F., & Burgos, D. (2016). In search for the open educator: Proposal of a definition and a framework to increase openness adoption among university educators. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(6), 1-17.
Nascimbeni and Burgos reviewed OER literature and interviewed experts in OE and OER to define more precisely both (1) Open Educator and its full components and (2) teachers’ openness capacity; this study resulted in a holistic pedagogical framework and recognition of a strong interaction between open approaches and collaborative university teachers, who must go through transition phases to achieve the desired openness.