Open Educational Resources (OER)

With the high costs of higher education a top concern of students (not to mention their families), open educational resources (OER) have emerged as a foundational strategy for improving student equity and college affordability.

OER play a key role in AAC&U’s mission of democratizing higher education. Faculty and students can use, customize, and share these free educational materials, from single lessons to entire textbooks, regardless of the size and type of institution.

But affordability is only one benefit of adopting and implementing OER in higher ed settings. AAC&U has partnered with members in advocating for ways to use OER as a lever to develop more equitable, inclusive, and diverse classrooms. Successful OER initiatives do not need to be massive, resource-intensive, or exhaustive. They do, however, require strategic planning, targeted approaches, collaborative leadership, and goal-oriented advocates. AAC&U’s Office of Curricular, Pedagogical, and Digital Innovation (OCPDI) has a variety of programming and events available to support our members in such efforts.

Institute on Open Education (IOE)

Open education leverages teaching practices and educational policies that support the use of free, openly licensed learning resources to provide learners with high-quality educational experiences. Through the year-long online Institute on Open Education, participating teams gain the skills need to design, launch, and expand open education on their own campus. Teams interact with expert consultants and participate in regular webinars and planning sessions.

Open Educational Resources (OER) Research Database

The OER Research Database is part of a larger, Hewlett Foundation-funded project titled, "Establishing Compelling Evidence for OER as a Completion and Learning Strategy for Higher Education.” Our objective with this work focuses largely on the impact of OER implementation on key student success metrics across over a dozen U.S. institutions representing all major institution types and a diverse body of students.

As part of this larger objective, advocacy for adopting and implementing OER and OEP is key. The OER Research Database emerged from within this mission by providing a free and easily accessible venue for instructors, administrators, students, policy-makers, and all types of stakeholders to locate research and formal literature on the use of OER and OEP.