what is it?

The open research advocacy group SPARC provides the following definition of OER in its OER State Policy Playbook:

The term “open educational resource” (OER) means a teaching, learning, or research resource that is offered freely to users in at least one form and that either resides in the public domain or has been released under an open copyright license that allows for its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with attribution.

Another term you may encounter is "open access." SPARC defines it as follows:

Open Access is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment.

why use it?

• OER is free to the user.
• It's available immediately for students at the start of a course, unlike textbooks or other materials that require ordering.
• It's perpetually available, unlike semester-long rental materials.
• Accessing it doesn't require handing over personal data.
• It's customizable. Faculty can update their materials as they see fit.
• Students can participate in the creation of OER, making them active participants in their learning. This is called “open pedagogy.”

why is it important?

The cost of course materials has increased dramatically. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of college textbooks in the US increased by 88% between 2006 and 2016.

These high costs negatively affect students. In the fall of 2019, the US Public Interest Research Group conducted a survey of almost 4,000 students from 83 colleges across the country and found the following:

• 66% of students reported skipping purchasing assigned course material during their time at school due to cost.
• 25% of students reported needing to work extra hours to afford course materials.
• Students surveyed reported a very poor understanding of how their data is used by ed tech companies and publishers--a median rating of 2 on a scale from 2-10.