The Impact of OER

Student Cost Savings at the University of Regina

The following table shows the cost savings for University of Regina students through OER published by UR Press and the OER Publishing Program between 2015 – 2022.

OERs developed/in development

Learners impacted

Student savings

24

15,226

$2,221,350

Table 1.1 Current OER Cost savings at the University of Regina

In addition, the University of Regina instituted a zero-cost materials strategy for courses in 2020. These are courses that use a combination of affordable educational resources (open access materials, OER and freely available library materials). Up to this point (August 2022), 12, 389 students have been impacted by this initiative with cost savings of $1, 858, 350.

2020

2021

2022

Enrollment

2930

6714

2745

Savings

$439,500

$1,007,100

$411,750

Table 1.2 Current Zero-cost Materials cost savings at the University of Regina

We can identify the benefits for each of those involved in using Open Education approaches – the learners, the organization and the educators.

Impact of Open Education on different stakeholders

Learners can benefit from:

  • Applying knowledge in a wider context than their course would otherwise allow.
  • Freedom of access and enhanced opportunities for learning.
  • Support for learner-centred, self-directed and social/informal learning approaches.
  • The opportunity to test out course materials before enrolling.

Educators can benefit from:

  • Student/user feedback and open peer review
  • Reputational benefits, recognition
  • Benefits (efficiency and cultural) of collaborative approaches to teaching/learning
  • Reaching a wider range of learners

Educational institutions can benefit from:

  • Recognition and enhanced reputation
  • Wider availability of their academic content (linking to widening participation agenda)
  • Efficiencies in content production
  • Increased sharing of ideas and practice within the institution
  • Increased understanding of intellectual property rights (IPR)

Other sectors (e.g., employers, public bodies, private bodies, 3rd sector) benefit from:

  • Access to repurposable content
  • Input to scoping, development and endorsement of open content in their focus area
  • New potential partnerships with content providers and other sectors
  • Increased understanding of IPR, curriculum development and learning technologies

Source: https://course.openmedproject.eu/lesson-1-2-the-benefits-and-impact-of-open-education/ by OpenMed. Content licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Here is a related webinar by Open Education Global from December 2022.

Video length: 1:00:12 minutes