Module 2: Why Should I Consider Using OER?

OER support a future where students and instructors have free access on the first day of classes (“Day-One Access”) to a wide variety of high-quality educational resources that have been collaboratively developed, reviewed, revised, and shared across institutions. Additional benefits of Open Educational Resources include easy adaptability to fit within the context of specific courses, and to meet the needs of specific students. The cost of creation, use, and maintenance of OER is much lower than the current rising costs of textbooks and other classroom resources.

Learning Objective:

At the end of this module, you will be able to describe ways that OER benefit both students and faculty.

Course Learning Objectives

CLO 2 Describe how OER benefits students and faculty

Module Learning Objectives

MLO 2.1 Understand the benefits of using OER from a student-centered perspective

MLO 2.2 Understand how OER benefit faculty

MLO 2.3 Understand how Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility overlap with Open Educational Resources

MLO 2.1 Understand the benefits of using OER from a student-centered perspective

The resources in this section will explain benefits for students that include:

  • Reduced textbook costs

  • Accessibility

  • Equity & Inclusion

  • Student Success


Why Open Education: SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, summarizes the reasons for using OER with these four points:

  1. Textbook costs should not be a barrier to education

  2. Students learn more when they have access to quality materials

  3. Technology holds boundless potential to improve teaching and learning

  4. Better education means a better future

Benefits for Students (Texas Learn OER): Module 3: Why OER? of the Texas Learn OER course describes how students benefit from the cost savings that OER provide, the ability to access materials immediately, and student success. It’s key findings are from Florida Virtual Campus’ 2016 and 2018 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey

Benefits for Students (SUNY): Addresses Day-One access, student success, and textbook costs - Same info as above, includes different videos as well as thought exercises.


MLO 2.2 Understand how OER benefit faculty

There are also multiple benefits of OER for faculty, including:

  • Customization of materials

  • Fits teaching style & needs

  • Flexibility

  • Quality

  • Better understanding of student access levels


Benefits for Faculty (Texas Learn OER): Module 3: Why OER? of the Texas Learn OER course addresses the benefits to faculty through:

  1. Customization and flexibility to use, improve, and share open content

  2. Professional development opportunities through network and collaboration

  3. Providing students better access while reducing course material costs

Benefits for Faculty (SUNY): This site features SUNY faculty talking about OER adoption in their courses.


MLO 2.3 Understand how Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility overlap with Open Educational Resources


OER: Equity & Openness (Texas Learn OER): Module 3: OER: Equity & Openness uses the Equity in Open Education video created by Iowa State to explore how equity intersects with open education. In addition, this resource specifically addresses the value of openness during a time of crisis.

Accessibility (Texas Learn OER): Module 6: Accessibility of the Texas Learn OER course explains universal design and how it improves accessibility for all learners, identifies steps for choosing and using accessible OER, lists ways accessibility must be considered when adopting OER, and reflects on accessibility of current teaching resources and how they can be improved.