Open Educational Resources

A bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders.

January 13, 2024
Aligned with the objectives of the International Decade for Indigenous Languages (IDIL2022-2032) Global Action Plan, there is a call to leverage Open Educational Resources, as outlined in the 2019 Recommendation on OER. The aim is to integrate Indigenous Peoples' culture, history and knowledge into educational curricula.

January 16, 2024
West Texas A&M University students will be provided textbooks for all core curriculum courses beginning in fall 2024, President Walter V. Wendler announced in a Jan. 16 memo.

February 2, 2024
Faculty members Laurie M. Apple, M.E. Betsy Garrison, Wendy L. McBride and Lynn Meade each published an open textbook in 2023 through participation in the U of A's Course Materials Conversion Program, a collaborative effort between the University Libraries and Global Campus. Each of the four texts is available online at no cost to users.

March 30, 2023
See how another College Professor is using OER materials within his own teaching.

May 8, 2023
Includes several strategies to using OER materials.

June 1, 2023
The UNESCO OER Dynamic Coalition organized a webinar on 4 May 2023 to highlight the effective use of open licenses in promoting inclusive knowledge societies. Open solutions refer to digital public goods that are available under open licenses, respecting the intellectual property rights of the copyright owner. These solutions enable users to reuse, repurpose, adapt and redistribute content.

September 7, 2023
A study finds increasing levels of buy-in of open resources, with about three in 10 instructors requiring OER in their courses.

September 15, 2023

December 7, 2023

February 20, 2020
A multi-layered, multi-year study on the use of open educational resources found that in some colleges, students who took multiple OER courses earned more credits on average over time than similar students who took no OER courses.

February 20, 2020
Students who took multiple community college courses that used only free or low-cost OER materials earned more credits over time than their peers who took classes that used traditional course materials such as textbooks, according to a new study.

February 20, 2020
Community college students taking multiple OER courses earned more credits and similar grades than students who took no OER courses and reported high engagement with course materials; effort saved students $10.7 million and was cost-effective for colleges.

March 10, 2020
Awareness and adoption of open educational resources continue to grow, a new report suggests. But the movement could be overshadowed by publisher initiatives like inclusive access.

January 25, 2020
The “Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Market” report includes a comprehensive analysis of the current market status, major key players, latest challenges and opportunities in the market.

February 20, 2020
On average, colleges spent about $70 per student on developing OERs, which mostly went toward paying faculty to develop the courses. Researchers estimated there was an average of $1.03 in gross revenue generated for every dollar spent on redesigning courses.

February 5, 2020
A recently released study showed that an investment by the state of Oregon in promoting textbook affordability has led to a dramatic drop in the cost of course materials for transfer degrees.

March 3, 2020
Open educational resources have gone global and may help make learning more accessible, equitable and inclusive around the world.

February 9, 2020
OER Commons, an organization focused on creating open educational resources (OER), has developed an editing tool named Open Author.

February 20, 2020
A new study of an initiative focused on developing academic pathways for courses that use open education resources (OER) shows promising results for the programs, but they also face challenges in continuing.

March 24, 2020
In the last five years, more faculty at higher education institutions are choosing to make the shift from the use of print to digital textbooks, according to new research by Bay View Analytics.

March 11, 2020
Bay View Analytics study finds growing concerns among faculty regarding the cost to students of course materials

February 4, 2020
Top Hat, an ed tech company that specializes in creating open educational resources (OER), announced Tuesday that it raised $55 million in Series D funding.

June 1, 2020
In addition, more than 70 percent of students in the survey said they did not register for a course because of the cost of the textbook. Approximately 60 percent said they completed a class without actually purchasing the text, which creates academic challenges for the students and their instructors.

March 13, 2020
From March 2 to March 6, librarians at the Claremont Colleges Library celebrated Open Education Week in order to promote one way to avoid resorting to expensive textbooks or internet piracy: Open Educational Resources.

June 18, 2020

May 5, 2020
Publishers Cengage and McGraw-Hill Education have terminated plans to merge after scrutiny from regulators