In direct comparisons of OER and commercial textbooks, a strong majority of participants report OER are as good or better.¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr3·q2
Currency · newest study 2020 · checked against its sources 2026-10-29 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · 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.
q2 i? Every study that asked participants who used both OER and commercial textbooks to directly compare them found a strong majority reporting OER are as good or better. → Hilton 2020
Evidence¶
Hilton 2020¶
Hilton, J., III. (2020). Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018. Education Tech Research Dev, 68, 853-876. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09700-4
q2 · i? · review · r3
The synthesis's aggregate finding across the direct-comparison perceptions studies, where 15 of the 20 studies asked students to compare OER they had used with commercial textbooks.
"Every study that has asked those who have used both OER and CT as primary learning resources to directly compare the two has shown that a strong majority of participants report that OER are as good or better."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- The commentary offers a practice-based perspective on Hilton's (2016) OER efficacy review in the context of the COVID-19 pivot to remote instruction — related
- Students achieve the same or better learning outcomes when using OER compared to commercial textbooks, while saving significant amounts of money. — related
- The majority of faculty and students who have used OER had a positive experience and would do so again. — related
- In studies comparing ratings from separate groups of OER users and CT users, results were mixed: two studies favored CT, two favored OER, and one showed similar ratings. — related
- Open textbooks appear to offer financial benefits to students without decreasing learning outcomes in higher education — related
- Synthesized studies of OER in college courses found academic outcomes comparable to traditional textbooks and positive perceptions among students and instructors — a broader claim this one bears on
- Substituting OER for traditional textbooks does not appear to decrease student learning outcomes in higher education. — related
- Students and faculty are generally positive regarding OER across a variety of settings. — a broader claim this one bears on
- Concerns about whether OER decrease the effectiveness of student learning remain unsolved — related
- Most U.S. higher education faculty believe OER are a good idea but few actually use them — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
oer-direct-comparison-strong-majority-as-good-or-better |
title |
In direct comparisons of OER and commercial textbooks, a strong majority of participants report OER are as good or better. |
description |
In direct comparisons of OER and commercial textbooks, a strong majority of participants report OER are as good or better. |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2020 |
source_checked |
2026-10-29 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-28 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — hilton-2020 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.