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OER & Equity

Featured articles on OER and how using OER can make college more accessible for students. Also inlcuded is information and examples for OER degrees, or Z degrees.

Completion & Retention

  • "We report on one community college’s adoption of a free online psychology textbook. During the fall semester, 2011, 690 students used this book. Compared to students using a traditional text in the spring of 2011, students who used the free online textbook scored higher on departmental final exams, had higher GPAs in the class and higher retention rates." ~ One College's Use of an Open Psychology Textbook (PDF)
  • "A review of several additional studies by Hilton (2016) indicates that generally, students who use OER tend to do as well or better than their peers using traditional textbooks in terms of course completion and passing rates." ~ Maintaining Momentum Toward Graduation: OER and the Course Throughput Rate COM Library resource. Must have COM account or be on campus to access.
  • "Community college students who enrolled in sections of introductory courses that used OER had higher retention rates (by 14 percentage points) than students in non-OER sections, according to a 2021 study published in Educational Researcher." ~ OER Can Help Students Earn Their Degrees COM Library resource. Must have COM account or be on campus to access.
  • "These included the number of dollars saved by students (27 percent), number of faculty using OER (21 percent), number of students using OER (20 percent), grades/academic achievement of students (9 percent), increase in student retention (8 percent), increase in course completion (5 percent), and reduction in course drops (5 percent). Open Educational Resources