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On the Relationship Between Adopting OER and Improving Student Outcomes

Iterating Toward Openness

I’ve been writing this article 30 minutes here and 60 minutes there for several months (WordPress tells me I saved the first bits in March). This article started out with my being bothered by the fact that ‘OER adoption reliably saves students money but does not reliably improve their outcomes.’

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When is an OER an OER?

Iterating Toward Openness

tl ;dr – If a resource is licensed in a way that grants you permission to engage in the 5R activities, and grants you those permissions for free, it’s an open educational resource (OER) – no matter where you find it or how it’s being used. I have an obsession with definitions. It’s been true for decades.

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On ZTC, OER, and a More Expansive View

Iterating Toward Openness

As the movement grew and more people began advocating for the adoption of OER in place of traditionally copyrighted materials in classes, some advocates chose to make cost the primary focus of their advocacy. Materials that were openly licensed and free were the OER we had spent the last decade advocating for. grey below).

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Thoughts on OER and Cost Savings

Iterating Toward Openness

Yesterday, Phil Hill wrote about OpenStax’s new method for calculating the savings students see when their faculty adopt OER. His article highlights these paragraphs from Rice University’s recent press release : Our community is creating a movement that will make a big impact on college affordability.

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OER-based Degrees: Momentum

Iterating Toward Openness

Creating and sharing OER did not harm their ability to succeed in accomplishing their core missions – the education of their students. And there are many reasons to believe that their efforts in creating and sharing OER actually advanced their core missions. 18) for the creation of OER-based degrees (see SEC.

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Open Educational Practice: Unleashing the Potential of OER

Edsurge

It’s been a good year for open educational resources (OER). made commitments this year to establish entire degree programs based solely on OER. Governor Jerry Brown set aside $5 million for OER degree programs in California community colleges. But “free” is not the only important characteristic of OER.

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The RISE Package for R: Reducing Time Through the OER Continuous Improvement Cycle

Iterating Toward Openness

By definition, open educational resources (OER) are licensed in a manner that gives you permission to change, update, and improve them. Learning analytics, on the other hand, can provide great insight into where course materials – including OER – are not effectively supporting student learning.

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