Open Educational Resources Guide: OER vs. Open Access

Open Educational Resources are learning items that are openly shared: users can use them however they want. These resources include things such as textbooks, lesson plans, simulations, videos, and ancillary materials such as test banks, flashcards and similar. For OER, the "Open" really means open, as they are materials that users can revise and remix in many different ways. For example, if an instructor wants to update a textbook or add a chapter of their own, they can do that with OER. These materials provide several advantages over traditional textbooks because of this. Not only are they free to begin with, they can be updated and changed as needed: no need to buy a new edition ever year or two.

These resources are important to both students and faculty. For students, the best part of course is that they are free! The average university student spends about $1200 per year on books and supplies (1). If a few of these textbooks were replaced with OERs, they could have a much smaller bill. 

For faculty, there are several advantages to OER. One is that the textbook would be available on the first day of class: no more students waiting until late in the semester to see if they really need the textbook before they buy it. Along those same lines, students would ALL have access to the textbook. Studies have shown that 65% of students have opted out of buying a textbook at some point. 94% of those students felt that it did affect their grade in the class and their understanding of the material (2). If the textbook is essential to learning, but the students can't afford it, they may not do well in the class. OER provide more equitable access to class materials.

If you would like to learn more about OER, or if you would like assistance finding OER for your class, please contact Shari Theroux at Briggs Library, shari.theroux@sdstate.edu.

“OER, Open Textbooks, and Open Courses” (Module 5.2) by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0.

(1) National Center for Education Studies (2022). Digest of Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_330.40.asp

(2) Senack, Ethan (2014, January 27). Survey shows students opting out of buying high-cost textbooks. PIRG. https://pirg.org/media-center/survey-shows-students-opting-out-of-buying-high-cost-textbooks/

OER vs. Open Access © 2024 by Shari Theroux is licensed under CC BY 4.0 

Open Access is a way to make research (particularly articles) available freely to anyone without an embargo period. Under the  traditional publishing model, a journal publisher would accept the articles and publish it in a way that is only available to paid subscribers. Unfortunately the cost of these subscriptions can run very high. Students and faculty doing research often hit a paywall when looking for articles, especially the most recent research. Since most people are generally interested in the newest research, this creates a big problem with the dissemination of information. Because of these limitations in traditional publishing, open access is very important to both students and faculty.

With Open Access, the information is freely available for anyone to use but the author retains the copyright. Unlike OER, they may choose a license that does not allow making changes to the original content. 

There are several types of Open Access, some of which do come at a cost to the author or their institution. Researchers who want to publish may want to look into multiple available options to find what works best for them. 

At South Dakota State University, we have our own institutional repository called Open Prairie. This is where we publish the works of SDSU faculty and students. For SDSU faculty and students, if you have questions about open access, please contact Michael Biondo at the Briggs Library, michael.biondo@sdstate.edu.

“OER, Open Textbooks, and Open Courses” (Module 5.1) by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0.