AAC&U Announces Open Educational Resources as the Latest High-Impact Practice

This summer, the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) announced that open educational resources (OER) are the newest addition to their list of high-impact practices, pedagogical practices that are proven to support student engagement, retention, and learning. This announcement came alongside a landmark study about the use of OER with nearly 700,000 students across 15 institutions.

Key findings of the report include:

• OER implementation is associated with lower course withdrawal rates.
• Students who completed at least one OER-supported course demonstrated improved time-to-completion, particularly those taking longer than four years to earn a credential.
• One third of instructors teaching with OER innovated in their pedagogical design, redesigning courses and adapting instructional materials to meet student needs.
• OER implementation showed particular promise for supporting student success among populations historically underserved by higher education.

The benefits of OER implementation extend beyond affordability to student engagement, persistence, and success. (Read the full report)

Notably, the report’s authors argue that institutional support is vital for instructors teaching with OER, underscoring the importance of investing in professional development, funding, infrastructure, and staff time. Iowa State University has been advancing the effective use of OER through campus partnerships and services for nearly a decade. This work is part of the university’s broader course material affordability efforts, which are supported by the University library, the Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT), the ISU Book Store, and the individual efforts of instructors across campus who keep costs low for students.

Support Available at the University Library

Instructors uncertain where to start when looking for OER can consult with their subject librarian for a general overview and visit the OER Library Guide. For more complex questions, instructors should meet with Abbey Elder, open education services librarian. Abbey provides one-on-one faculty consultations and presentations for departments about open education. She can also assist instructors with:

• integrating one or more OER into a course,
• implementing open pedagogy assignments in the classroom,
• navigating open licensing and copyright questions,
• designing projects for OER adaptation or development, and
• exploring options for publishing and promoting original OER (e.g., through the ISU Digital Press).

Other units on campus are also partners in this work. The Miller Open Education Mini-Grant Program, a competitive grant program on campus that provides funding for instructors interested in teaching with OER, is jointly funded by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, the University Library, and CELT. In addition to providing funding for the Mini-Grant Program, CELT’s instructional designers help instructors assess and redesign their courses and prepare particularly well-designed courses for Quality Matters certification.

Iowa State’s efforts to support OER, in conjunction with the findings from AAC&U’s report, highlight the increasing value of OER in education today. With institutional support and intentional design, these free and adaptable course materials offer a proven strategy for advancing student success, one that helps students save money while also helping instructors build more personalized and high-quality learning experiences.

Want to learn more?

Register for this upcoming webinar in CELT’s new speaker series on High-Impact Practices:

• High-Impact Teaching with Open Educational Resources: Adapting for Student Success; Online; Thursday November 5, 1:00-2:00pm CT | Register to Attend