Libraries: Faculty Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER): Research

OER Adoption Impacts

OER - Adoption Impacts by Lumen Learning
"The OER Adoption Impact Explorer helps you understand some of the impacts of adopting OER instead of commercial textbooks.
Change the values below to match data from your institution to see how OER adoption can benefit your students and institution. Charts, graphs, and language will update in real time as you make changes."
OER Research Articles
Research on OER Impact and Effectiveness
"Lumen personnel are at the forefront of research regarding cost savings, learning gains, and other impacts of adopting open educational resources. This research appears in some of the world’s premier peer-reviewed research journals. Dr. Wiley also chairs dissertations exploring the cutting edge of research relating to open education."
Make Textbooks Affordable - Student PIRGs
Information from Student Public Interest Research Groups about textbook affordability.

LCC puts an ad in every class schedule with a list of all the OER courses to publicize them. They also have a designation next to the individual course in the class schedule.
Implementing the use of OER saved students $334,802 during three quarters: fall 2015, winter 2016, and spring 2016. This is a $75 average savings per student. (Their FTE is around 3200.)
54 sections used OER in spring 2016. 4312 students enrolled in OER courses at LCC this year.
The LCC bookstore reports that they sell many more books, even though they make less per item. But they’re finding that more students are staying enrolled. And if they just keep 20 students from not dropping classes, then they make up for the lost revenue in the bookstore. Students who dropped out were surveyed, and they say the number one reason is cost of tuition and books.

11 peer-reviewed studies, 48,000 students
93% of students had better outcomes
Note: Bullet points taken from presentation at OpenEd 2015 conference, referring to the Open Ed Research Group study.

OER project began in 2012 and has since introduced OER in more than 65 course sections.
10,000 students have been served.
Over $1.1 million in savings has been generated

More students bought the text (cost <$30)
1.5% lower withdraw rate
3% higher completion
Math: higher completion in gateway courses led to higher completion in later courses
More information about Zx23 Virginia Community College System Zx23 Project

Cost-Savings Achieved in Two Semesters Through the Adoption of Open Educational Resources
Abstract

Textbooks represent a significant portion of the overall cost of higher education in the United States. The burden of these costs is typically shouldered by students, those who support them, and the taxpayers who fund the grants and student loans which pay for textbooks. Open educational resources (OER) provide students a way to receive high-quality learning materials at little or no cost to students. We report on the cost savings achieved by students at eight colleges when these colleges began utilizing OER in place of traditional commercial textbooks.
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Hilton III, John, T. Jared Robinson, David Wiley, & J. Dale Ackerman. "Cost-savings achieved in two semesters through the adoption of open educational resources." The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning [Online], 15.2 (2014): n. pag. Web. 16 May. 2016
Covering the Cost
This report aims to investigate the degree at which prices actually affect student’s financial standing and behavior and make the case for urgent action around high textbook prices.