OER adoption is expected to save students money and close the achievement gap in the short term, but this benefit will likely disappear over the longer term¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoreticalr3·q1
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q1 i? The article argues that adopting OER during the emergency shift to digital learning saves students money and can help close the achievement gap between lower and higher income students, but that as textbook prices plateau and the price difference shrinks, the affordability-attributable impact of OER will decrease in parallel. → David A. Wiley 2021
Evidence¶
David A. Wiley 2021¶
David A. Wiley. (2021). Open educational resources: undertheorized research and untapped potential. Education Tech Research Dev. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09907-w
q1 · i? · theoretical · r3
Authors' argument in the Application section: because the cost of textbooks has plateaued for the first time in decades and publishers respond to OER price pressure, the price difference between OER and traditionally copyrighted resources is likely to continue to decrease. This is an interpretive prediction, not a tested result.
"If the access hypothesis holds, the impact of OER on student outcomes attributable to affordability will decrease in parallel. In other words, adopting OER may not be a long-term strategy for saving students significant amounts of money or closing the achievement gap between lower income and higher income students."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Simulation analysis shows failure to account for the access hypothesis likely prevents detecting any effect of OER adoption on student outcomes — related
- Open textbooks appear to offer financial benefits to students without decreasing learning outcomes in higher education — related
- Students achieve the same or better learning outcomes when using OER compared to commercial textbooks, while saving significant amounts of money. — related
- Students using OER save significant amounts of money compared to purchasing commercial textbooks. — related
- Synthesized studies of OER in college courses found academic outcomes comparable to traditional textbooks and positive perceptions among students and instructors — related
- Concerns about whether OER decrease the effectiveness of student learning remain unsolved — reports the opposite
- Across 2002-2018, OER efficacy research consistently shows that OER does not harm student learning, with a small positive impact. — related
- Relative advantage of OER alone will not lead to rapid adoption, especially if framed as cost savings — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
oer-cost-savings-short-term-only |
title |
OER adoption is expected to save students money and close the achievement gap in the short term, but this benefit will likely disappear over the longer term |
description |
OER adoption is expected to save students money and close the achievement gap in the short term, but this benefit will likely disappear over the longer term |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2021 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-29 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — david-a-wiley-2021 |
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