Why Open Education

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Articulate motivations for OER adoptions and use

• Describe the benefits of OER for students

• Describe the benefits of OER for faculty

• Explore further benefits OER supports, such as equity and inclusion

Open Education encompasses resources, tools and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment.

For too long, our educational systems have operated with a fundamental disconnect between practices left over from the analog world, and the vast potential of technology and the Internet to support more affordable, effective teaching and learning. The movement for Open Education seeks to close this gap.

The foundation of Open Education is Open Educational Resources (OER), which are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use. Generally, this permission is granted by use of an open license (for example, Creative Commons licenses) which allows anyone to freely use, adapt and share the resource—anytime, anywhere. “Open” permissions are typically defined in terms of the “5R’s”: users are free to Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute these educational materials.  We defined the 5Rs in our previous section.

Breaking this Down

• Textbook costs should not be a barrier to education. The price of textbooks has skyrocketed more than three times the rate of inflation for decades. College students face steep price tags that can top $200 per book, and K-12 schools use books many years out of date because they are too expensive to replace. Using OER solves this problem because the material is free online, affordable in print, and can be saved forever. Resources that would otherwise go to purchasing textbooks can be redirected toward technology, improving instruction, or reducing debt.

• Students learn more when they have access to quality materials. The rapidly rising cost of textbooks in higher education has left many students without access to the materials they need to succeed. Studies show that 93% of students who use OER do as well or better than those using traditional materials, since they have easy access to the content starting day one of the course.

• Technology holds boundless potential to improve teaching and learning. Open Education ensures that teachers, learners and institutions can fully explore this potential. Imagine an American History textbook with the latest news from the run-up to the 2018 election, or a math tutorial that incorporates local landmarks into word problems. Imagine a lecture attended by hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, or a peer-to-peer exchange between Canadian students learning Mandarin with Chinese students learning English or French. All of this and more is possible when the pathways for technology in education are fully open.

• Better education means a better future. Education is the key to advancing society’s greatest goals, from a building a strong economy to leading healthy lives. By increasing access to education and creating a platform for more effective teaching and learning, Open Education benefits us all.

OER Mythbusting

OER Mythbusting is one of SPARC's most popular resources and is a phenomenal document to learn more about the misconceptions and details about OER.

Learn More with SPARC

Learn more about OER with the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). 

• Connect OER: Join our platform to share and discover information about OER activities across North America, and read our annual report.

• OER State Policy Resources: Check out our OER State Policy Tracker for the latest developments, or download the OER State Policy Playbook.

• OER Digest: SPARC co-authors this bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders.

• OER Mythbusting: Collaboratively developed resource dispelling the most common OER myths.

Concept Review

You’ll notice that this module contains many external links to additional readings on the impact and benefits of OER. Take the time to read these resources to explore further the concepts and points presented in this module.  There is no quiz at the end of this module; your activity is to explore the supplemental reading. 

Attributions

"OER Mythbusting", a document by SPARC which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY 2020.

"Open Education",  a page by SPARC which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY 2020.

Why it Matters: Open Education, a page by SPARC which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY 2020.