Open textbooks appear to offer financial benefits to students without decreasing learning outcomes in higher education¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Hilton's synthesis of 16 studies found that adopting open textbooks in higher education appears to save students money without reducing their learning outcomes. → Ma 2021

Evidence¶

Ma 2021¶

Ma, H. (2021). Empowering digital learning with open textbooks. Education Tech Research Dev, 69, 393–396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09916-9

q2 · i? · theoretical · r2

The commentary reports Hilton's (2016) review synthesizing 16 studies of open textbook efficacy and perceptions, noting it "appeared to have financial benefits to students without decrease in their learning outcomes." The commentary itself reports no new data.

"In the article, Hilton synthesized the results of 16 studies, and proposed a statement that the decision to employ and adopt open textbooks in higher education has appeared to have financial benefits to students without decrease in their learning outcomes."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students achieve the same or better learning outcomes when using OER compared to commercial textbooks, while saving significant amounts of money. — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• In direct comparisons of OER and commercial textbooks, a strong majority of participants report OER are as good or better. — related
• Across 2002-2018, OER efficacy research consistently shows that OER does not harm student learning, with a small positive impact. — a broader claim this one bears on
• The number of published OER efficacy and perceptions studies rose rapidly between 2015 and 2018, with more studies published in those 3 years than in the previous 15. — related
• Synthesized studies of OER in college courses found academic outcomes comparable to traditional textbooks and positive perceptions among students and instructors — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• OER efficacy studies are frequently confounded by simultaneous changes in pedagogy or delivery method. — related
• Substituting OER for traditional textbooks does not appear to decrease student learning outcomes in higher education. — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Students using OER save significant amounts of money compared to purchasing commercial textbooks. — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Concerns about whether OER decrease the effectiveness of student learning remain unsolved — reports the opposite
• 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 — related
• OER outcome studies that lack a hypothesized explanatory mechanism are license comparison studies prone to finding no significant differences — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Hilton's reviews find OER equally efficacious to and less expensive than commercial textbooks — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Relative advantage of OER alone will not lead to rapid adoption, especially if framed as cost savings — related