Selecting course reading materials is not necessarily an easy process. This article discusses selection concerns such as cost, inclusivity and options ranging from traditional textbooks to course packs. A review of literature finds extensive information about adoption of OER materials. Additionally, articles referring to difficulties in course…

The 2019 UNESCO recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) encourages member states to monitor policies and mechanisms in OER across the world. In higher education, there are many initiatives and policies around OER. This contribution gives insights into the current situation concerning OER policy documents that are of national or…

Introduction: For the past decade, many educational institutions have launched initiatives to provide services and funding for professors to adopt, adapt, and create OER for enhancing student success. The initiatives could initially encourage faculty to use OER in their courses, but the continued effort to sustain proved difficult. Goal: The…

This report from the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), as part of the National Consortium for Open Educational Resources (NCOER), and with the help of a workgroup of institutional, state, and national leaders, examines six principles to help define efforts to identify savings and returns on investment (ROI) from Open Educational…

Open education (OE), as the sharing, use, and reuse of resources, pedagogies, and teaching practices, is an evolving phenomenon globally. OE has gained momentum by challenging, transforming, and even displacing systems which exclude, disenfranchise, and marginalize members of both the public and academic communities. Traditional, dominant systems…

There has been little research into the impact of textbook costs on higher education in the United Kingdom. To better understand textbook use patterns and the issues faced by UK students and educators the UK Open Textbooks Project (2017-2018, http://ukopentextbooks.org/) conducted quantitative survey research with United Kingdom educators in…

Teachers in Dorset and East Devon have the benefit of the Jurassic Coast on their doorstep to help them bring the 'rocks and fossils' content of the curriculum alive. Not only is the area breathtakingly beautiful, but it is also rich in educational resources. If schools are not in an area close enough to make a class visit possible, how can…

When students are unable to purchase a textbook because of rising prices and/or are unwilling to carry heavy textbooks, their education is compromised. Open educational resources (OERs) are gaining in popularity because they solve these problems by providing free study materials in electronic formats, but students from different backgrounds and…

In keeping with its land grant mission, a university campus library partnered with several OER advocacy efforts on both national and state levels to promote the creation and use of OER at the university. While the program had some initial success in inspiring faculty to create and use OER in their courses, the effort proved difficult to sustain.…

For almost 20 years, Open Educational Resources (OER) are an integral part of the debate about the digitisation of education. However, the empirical landscape of OER research is vivid and largely obscure. This article reviews the state of international empirical research on OER to reveal trends and gaps and, in this manner, identify possible…

General chemistry is a gateway course for most STEM majors, so student success is a priority for chemistry faculty. Providing quality information resources for students, including textbooks, is one way that instructors can support student learning. However, these resources can be prohibitively expensive for some students, causing them to opt out…

The aim of this study is to determine whether math teachers have an idea about the open course materials and to get their opinions about the use of open course materials. The study employs a qualitative research approach. The research is carried out on 12 math teachers with professional experience working at all two high schools in the Eastern…

The information and communication technology (ICT) comprehends with the adoption and the development of open educational resources (OER) in the educational spheres. The vast existing body of knowledge portrays several positive aspects of ICT, as it is an enabler in various domains. Hence, the combination of ICT and OER negative aspects have been,…

The 17-institution Connecticut State Colleges & Universities System (CSCU) formed a systemwide open educational resources (OER) Council in 2017 that was primarily focused on the adoption of no-cost or low-cost (NOLO) course materials as a means to provide equitable access to learning materials. The CSCU consortium of library directors…

The article examines the advantages and perspectives of distance education development in the Ukrainian higher education system. One of the innovations in the process of organizing education in Ukraine, as a country that actively implements the demands of time and the Bologna process, is the actualization of distance learning, that meets the needs…