OER Research Hub's presentation at OpenEd14, Washington, November 19-21, 2014.

1. ‘Eyes that Survey the World’:
the latest data snapshot from
OER Research Hub
B. de los Arcos, R. Farrow,
L.A. Perryman, B. Pitt
The Open University, UK
oerresearchhub.org
@OER_Hub

2. tinyurl.com/OERevidence
Photo CC BY-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/y59xh

3. Keyword Hypothesis
Performance OER improve student performance/satisfaction
Openness People use OER differently from other online materials
Access OER widen participation in education
Retention OER can help at-risk learners to finish their studies
Reflection OER use leads educators to reflect on their practice
Finance OER adoption brings financial benefits for students/institutions
Indicators Informal learners use a variety of indicators when selecting OER
Support Informal learners develop their own forms of study support
Transition OER support informal learners in moving to formal study
Policy OER use encourages institutions to change their policies
Assessment Informal assessments motivate learners using OER

4. Project Co-PILOT

5. Data
Photo CC BY-NC 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/dSHr87
• 20+ surveys;
• 60+ interviews with educators
and OER experts;
• 6 focus groups;
• Impact statements

6. Sample
Photo CC BY-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/y59xh

7. 6,390 responses from 180 countries:
50.3% informal learners,
24.7% formal learners,
21.6% educators,
3.4% librarians;
50.1% female; 48.7% male;
64% speakers of English as first language;
9.9% declare a disability;
33.3% hold a postgraduate degree;
34.8% use OER in Science.

8. Photo CC BY-NC 2.0 Alex Proimos https://flic.kr/p/dgqpwt
Photo CC BY-SA 2.0 marfis75 https://flic.kr/p/o4Hice

9. ‘OER increase student satisfaction with the learning experience’
%
%

10. ‘OER lead to improved student grades’
%
%

12. “Over the course of an entire semester all the kids turned in on
average 82% of their homework, which is significant for me as an
instructor because that made me feel that what I was asking
them to do at home, (…) whatever it happened to be, that they
saw the meaning in doing that.”
“The greatest impact comes when I share the MERLOT website with
students. They instantly connect with others who share their best practices.
Then they develop their own best practices to share with their students and
colleagues. There is such a great ripple effect when people are willing to
share; especially when the information is easy to locate.”

13. Photo CC BY-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/5BZgEa
Photo CC BY 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/6EuSQZ

14. 86.3% of educators adapt OER to suit their needs
Photo CC BY-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/5BZgEa

15. “What I do is I look at a lot of free resources but I don’t usually
give them directly to my students because I usually don’t like
them as much as something I would create, so what I do is I get
a lot of ideas.”
“The problem where I teach now is that
we have no money; my textbooks, my
Science textbooks are 20 years old,
they’re so outdated, they don’t relate to
kids (...) so I pick and pull from a lot of
different places to base my units.”
“I will maybe look and find an
instructional video that’s maybe 2
or 3 minutes long that gets to the
point better than I could, and I
would use it, or I will look for
lessons and if they are for Grade
5 or Grade 3 I don’t use all of it, I
just adapt it, I take out what I
don’t want and rearrange it.”

16. • I’ve created resources 95%
• I’ve created resources and published them online 44%
• I’ve created resources and published them online under
a CC license 5%

17. Reflection
Photo CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/p3ABbW

18. ‘I use a broader range of teaching and learning tools’ 40.6%
‘I reflect more on the way that I teach’ 37%
‘I have broadened my coverage of the curriculum’ 36.7%
‘I more frequently compare my teaching with others’ 32.1%

19. “It used to be that when I thought about preparing for a lesson I would
look at a book and see what they did and I then would
kind of teach a lesson similar to it but now I can go online
watch a video or look at somebody else’s material that they put out there,
see what they’re doing and either modify what they’re doing and bring it
into my classroom or just get a totally different perspective on it and
allow my students to get multiple perspectives on a
topic.”

20. Photo CC BY-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/aFDkRt

21. Do students save money using OER?
%

22. Do institutions save money using OER?
%

23. “Without any doubt my students are saving money! Only
one has purchased a copy of the textbook - everyone else
uses their laptop, tablet, or prints out what they want.”
“Down the road they may. Students talk to other potential
students. When they find out that teachers care about cost
and readability, they are more likely to choose your college”
“Since we are all using online version, the school saves a
lot of paper and money”

24. Photo CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/5eN7TU

25. 57% of informal learners already have a degree
31% of formal learners used OER to try university-content
level before signing up for a paid-for course
88.4% of all learners choose OER for the opportunity to
study at no cost

26. OER Impact Map
http://oermap.org

27. tinyurl.com/OERevidence
Photo CC BY-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/y59xh

28. Thank you
OER_Research_Hub@open.ac.uk
@OER_Hub

29. in service of The Open University