Open License Education Materials

Open License Education Materials

Brandon Biggs 

As many students matriculate to their choice of college every year, tuition and other fees continue to rise. In fact, student debt is at an all-time high, estimated at $1.45 trillion dollars in the United States alone.¹ Students are paying for tuition, but also fronting the high-cost of living expenses, lab fees, and educations materials by borrowing money.

One of the major expenses that comes with attending college and graduate schools is textbooks. These may run students upwards of $1,000 in just one semester. Aside from the high price tag, textbooks are also quickly outdated and locks educators into a strict lesson plan.

Last week, Blackboard and OpenEd announced a collaborative effort to offer K-12 students free open-licensed online resources and digital content.² This, and many other forms of free, open-source licensing material has become increasingly available to aid educators over the last 10 years. In fact, free educational tools are quickly emerging as a common option for students of all ages. Sal Khan, a former financial analyst and graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) started his free online educational video company, Khan Academy, in 2003. Kahn says the mission of Khan Academy is to “accelerate learning for students of all ages. With this in mind, we want to share our content with whoever may find it useful”. Khan Academy features free tutorial videos covering a number of topics including algebra, organic chemistry, calculus, and statistics and has over 1.2 billion views online.³

When educators are preparing for an upcoming semester with their students, one of the major steps that must be taken is deciding on course materials. Previously, before the availability of open source education materials, one textbook or source material would often be chosen by a department head or other representative of a school for all students and educators to use to maintain consistency. With the implementation and availability of open education resources (OER), some educators are able to provide a wider variety of learning tools.⁴ OER textbooks are normally of high quality and allow educators more flexibility in their lesson plans due to the availability of multiple resources.³ If students are struggling to understand a topic, educators can provide alternative resources. More specifically, this approach allows learning from more than just one textbook.

As mentioned, there are other benefits as well. Using OER textbooks and online resources to teach students can save a common class of 100 individuals who would normally spend $200 each for a textbook upwards of $20,000 total, and that is just for one class. Extrapolating these numbers to a semester’s worth of 15 credits may save students $100,000.³

Through this cost-savings and accessibility, research has shown students exclusively using OER textbooks may take more classes and even perform better, as purchasing an expensive textbook can be a barrier to studying course material.³

One drawback of courses using OER is that the approach, though over a decade old, is still in its infancy. There are plenty of resources and information available online, but the streamlined approach using reliable databases with OER is still limited. As use continues, growth will surely follow, but the option is struggling to become a mainstay on most college campuses. However, universities like University of Alaska are making an effort to make the use of OER a common practice by advertising it as an option to both students and faculty.³

Online learning and OER continue to push the boundaries of traditional education. As the internet and technology use grows in schools, and the costs of other resources, textbooks, and tuition continue to rise, free online education resources will continue to expand. The cost of receiving an education is at an all-time high and OER does not solve the problem of rising tuitions, but it is a fresh approach to an old problem that is gaining popularity.

1.       A Look at the Shocking Student Loan Debt Statistics for 2017. Student Loan Hero. September 13, 2017. Accessed October 14, 2017. Available from: https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/

2.       Tate E. Blackboard now offering over half a million open educational resources to K-12 students. Edscoop. October 11, 2017. Accessed October 14, 2017. Available from: http://edscoop.com/blackboard-now-offering-over-a-million-open-educational-resources-to-k-12-students-with-open-ed

3.       Dejesus -Remarklus, M. Open educational resources can be beneficial and cost-effective for students. The Northern Light. October 9, 2017. Accessed October 14, 2017. Available from: http://www.thenorthernlight.org/open-educational-resources-can-be-beneficial-and-cost-effective-for-students/

4.       Temple, J. "Salman Khan, math master of the Internet – SFGate". Articles.sfgate.com. December 14, 2009. Accessed October 14, 2017. Available from: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Salman-Khan-math-master-of-the-Internet-3278578.php

5.       OER Commons. Open Educational Resources. Accessed October 14, 2017. Available from: https://www.oercommons.org/