Measuring OER Impact

Whether your campus affordable learning initiative is large or small, measuring the impact of OER adoption can help you communicate the value of OER to stakeholders and make a case for additional resources and/or policies that support OER use.

Assessing OER programs and measuring the impact of OER adoption can help:

Clearly and accurately communicate the value of OER
Justify requests for funding/resources/policies to support OER programs
Determine which OER-related projects and activities are most beneficial for your campus

The resources below can help you get started with OER program assessment.

OER Hub Researcher Pack
This open textbook provides explanations and guidance for using assessment tools developed and released by the OER Hub.
All material and tools are CC BY licensed and are available for reuse.
The COUP Framework
An overview of the Open Education Group’s approach to studying the impact of OER through Cost, Outcomes, Usage, and Perceptions.
/Guidebook to Research on Open Educational Resources Adoption
This guidebook from the Open Education Group provides suggestions on how to study the four aspects of OER impact outlined in the COUP framework.
The OER Starter Kit for Program Managers
See section 7, "Collecting and Reporting Data".
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Elder, A. K., Buck, S., Gallant, J., Ashok, A., & Seiferle-Valencia, M. (2022, April 30). The OER Starter Kit for Program Managers. Pressbooks.pub; Rebus Community. https://uidaho.pressbooks.pub/oerstarterkitpm/
OER Research Toolkit
This toolkit from the Open Education Group contains guides and example instruments.
OER Data Toolkit
"This data toolkit aims to help you collect and visualize the data you will need to answer questions administrators may ask about open educational resources (OER) at your institution. " Created by Helen McManus as part of the
2019-2020 SPARC Open Education Leadership Fellowship.
OER Adoption Impact Explorer
The OER Adoption Impact Explorer, version 0.8, is a joint project of the Open Education Group and Lumen Learning. This online tool allows you to input data from your institution to see how OER adoption can benefit your students and institution.

Faculty OER Survey Toolkit
Pekala, Shayna, "Faculty OER Survey Toolkit" (2022).
OER Faculty Survey
Faculty survey on perceptions of OER from Allan Hancock College.
OER Hub Researcher Pack - Sample Question Bank
The OER Research Hub released a reusable and remixable, CC BY licensed, question bank with 50+ questions for instructors and students.
OER Student Survey
Student survey on college course materials from Allan Hancock College.
PASCAL Textbook Costs Impact Survey
Report on findings from the PASCAL Textbook Costs Impact Survey. See Appendix B for the survey instrument.
SUNY Brockport Faculty Survey
SUNY Brockport has created a brief faculty survey on perceptions of OER.

The following studies can provide insight on the impact of OER at other institutions, and seeing what other schools have done can be helpful in developing your own assessment program.

Digital OER Impact on Learning Outcomes for Social Inclusion
Baker, E. W. & Sibona, C.J. (2022). Digital OER Impact on Learning Outcomes for Social Inclusion. Journal for Computer Information Systems, 62(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2020.1802789.
A Comparison of Academic Outcomes in Courses Taught With Open Educational Resources and Publisher Content
Bol, Esqueda, M. C., Ryan, D., & Kimmel, S. C. (2022). A Comparison of Academic Outcomes in Courses Taught With Open Educational Resources and Publisher Content. Educational Researcher, 51(1), 17–26. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X211052563
Efficacy of Open Textbook Adoption on Learning Performance and Course Withdrawal Rates: A Meta-Analysis
Clinton, V., & Khan, S. (2019). Efficacy of Open Textbook Adoption on Learning Performance and Course Withdrawal Rates: A Meta-Analysis. AERA Open, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419872212
The Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics
Colvard, N., Watson, C. & Park, H. (2018). The Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher, 30(2), 262–276. http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE3386.pdf
OER at Scale: The Academic and Economic Outcomes of Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative
Griffiths, R., Mislevy, J., Wang, S., Ball, A., Shear, L., Desrochers, D. (2020). OER at Scale: The Academic and Economic Outcomes of Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative. SRI International. https://achievingthedream.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/atd_oer_at_scale_academic_economic_outcomes_feb_2020.pdf
Open educational resources and college textbook choices: a review of research on efficacy and perceptions
Hilton, J. (2016). Open educational resources and college textbook choices: a review of research on efficacy and perceptions. Education Tech Research Dev 64, 573–590 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-016-9434-9
A Survey of OER Implementations in 13 Higher Education Institutions
McGreal, Rory (2019). “A Survey of OER Implementations in 13 Higher Education Institutions”, in: International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 20, 5 pp. 141-145; URL: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1237334.pdf
Equitable student success via library support for textbooks
Wimberley, L., Cheney, E. and Ding, Y. (2020), "Equitable student success via library support for textbooks", Reference Services Review, Vol. 48 No. 3, pp. 373-383. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-03-2020-0024

Student Surveys:

Inequitable Impacts of Textbook Costs at a Small Private College: Results from a Textbook Survey at Gettysburg College
Appedu, Sarah, Elmquist, M., Wertzberger, J.,& Birch, S. (2021). Inequitable Impacts of Textbook Costs at a Small Private College: Results from a Textbook Survey at Gettysburg College. Open Praxis, 13(1), 69-87. https://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.13.1.1147
2022 Student Textbook and Instructional Materials Survey
Florida Virtual Campus (2022).
Virginia Course Materials Survey
VIVA. (2021).

Starting from the Ground Up: Developing a Vision, Strategic Plan, and Assessment Framework for OER Programs
SCALE webinar featuring Regina Gong, Associate Dean for Student Success and Diversity, University of San Diego. Recorded May 2023.
Measuring the Impact Of Open Education
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) webinar recorded December 2022.