Open Educational Resources and College Textbook Choices: A Review of Research on Efficacy and Perceptions

John Hilton

Educational Technology Research and Development Vol. 64, No. 4 (2016) pp. 573–590

Textbooks are a vital component in many higher education contexts. Increasing textbook prices, coupled with general rising costs of higher education have led some instructors to experiment with substituting open educational resources (OER) for...

Empirical Outcomes of Openness

John Hilton

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 18, No. 4 (Jun 16, 2017)

Defining OER-Enabled Pedagogy

David Wiley; John Hilton

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 19, No. 4 (Sep 26, 2018)

The term “open pedagogy” has been used in a variety of different ways over the past several decades. In recent years, its use has also become associated with Open Educational Resources (OER). The wide range of competing definitions of open pedagogy, ...

Language: English

Free: Why Authors Are Giving Books Away on the Internet

John Hilton; David Wiley

TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning Vol. 54, No. 2 (March 2010) pp. 43–49

With increasing frequency, authors in academic and non-academic fields are releasing their books for free digital distribution. Anecdotal evidence suggests that exposure to both authors and books increases when books are available as free downloads, ...

One College's Use of an Open Psychology Textbook

John Hilton; Carol Laman

Open Learning Vol. 27, No. 3 (2012) pp. 265–272

The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on a...

Open access textbooks and financial sustainability: A case study on Flat World Knowledge

John Hilton III; David Wiley

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Vol. 12, No. 5 (Jun 29, 2011) pp. 18–26

Many college students and their families are concerned about the high costs of textbooks. A company called Flat World Knowledge both gives away and sells open-source textbooks in a way it believes to be financially sustainable. This article reports...

Openness, Dynamic Specialization, and the Disaggregated Future of Higher Education

David Wiley; John Hilton III

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Vol. 10, No. 5 (Oct 14, 2009)

Openness is a fundamental value underlying significant changes in society and is a prerequisite to changes institutions of higher education need to make in order to remain relevant to the society in which they exist. There are a number of ways...

Openness and the Future of Higher Education

David Wiley; John Hilton III

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Vol. 10, No. 5 (Oct 14, 2009)

Open-Access Textbooks and Financial Sustainability: A Case Study on Flat World Knowledge

John Hilton III; David Wiley

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 12, No. 5 (Jun 29, 2011) pp. 18–26

Many college students and their families are concerned about the high costs of textbooks. A company called Flat World Knowledge both gives away and sells open-source textbooks in a way it believes to be financially sustainable. This article reports...

Examining the reuse of open textbooks

John Hilton III; Neil Lutz; David Wiley

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Vol. 13, No. 2 (Apr 02, 2012) pp. 45–58

An important element of open educational resources (OER) is the permission to use the materials in new ways, including revising and remixing them. Prior research has shown that the revision and remix rates for OER are relatively low. In this study...

On the Efficacy of Open Educational Resources

Huimei Delgado; Michael Delgado; John Hilton

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 20, No. 1 (Feb 28, 2019)

Open educational resources (OER), which are free and openly licensed educational materials, have been a widely discussed topic in response to high textbook costs, the need for more pedagogical flexibility, and inequality in access to educational...

Language: English

Khan Academy Videos in Chinese: A Case Study in OER Revision

Allen Rao; John Hilton; Sarah Harper

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 18, No. 5 (Aug 15, 2017)

Over the past decade, great progress has been made in improving the quality and availability of Open Educational Resources (OER). OER proponents often discuss the ability for users to revise and remix OER to make them more suitable for local...

From Open Educational Resources to College Credit: The Approaches of Saylor Academy

John Hilton III; Lindsay Murphy; Devon Ritter

Open Praxis Vol. 6, No. 4 (Nov 11, 2014) pp. 365–374

Over the past decade great progress has been made in improving the availability of Open Educational Resources (OER). However, one area in which OER has been deficient is in its ability to lead to college or university credit, something that many...

Analysis of Student and Faculty Perceptions of Textbook Costs in Higher Education

Michael Martin; Olga Belikov; John Hilton; David Wiley; Lane Fischer

Open Praxis Vol. 9, No. 1 (Mar 31, 2017) pp. 79–91

The cost of textbooks has continued to impact students in higher education. Students have reported that they make decisions on which courses to take based on the specific cost of textbooks. Faculty have reported willingness to use open textbooks to...

A preliminary examination of the cost savings and learning impacts of using open textbooks in middle and high school science classes

David Wiley; John Hilton III; Shelley Ellington; Tiffany Hall

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Vol. 13, No. 3 (May 22, 2012) pp. 262–276

Proponents of open educational resources claim that significant cost savings are possible when open textbooks displace traditional textbooks in the classroom. Over a period of two years, we worked with 20 middle and high school science teachers ...

Maintaining Momentum Toward Graduation: OER and the Course Throughput Rate

John Hilton III; Lane Fischer; David Wiley; Linda William

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 17, No. 6 (Dec 06, 2016)

Open Educational Resources (OER) have the potential to replace traditional textbooks in higher education. Previous studies indicate that use of OER results in high student and faculty satisfaction, lower costs, and similar or better educational...

Cost-savings achieved in two semesters through the adoption of open educational resources

John Hilton III; T Robinson; David Wiley; J Ackerman

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 15, No. 2 (Apr 01, 2014)

Textbooks represent a significant portion of the overall cost of higher education in the United States. The burden of these costs is typically shouldered by students, those who support them, and the taxpayers who fund the grants and student loans...

A Multi-Institutional Study of the Impact of Open Textbook Adoption on the Learning Outcomes of Post-Secondary Students

Lane Fischer; John Hilton; T Jared Robinson; David A. Wiley

Journal of Computing in Higher Education Vol. 27, No. 3 (December 2015) pp. 159–172

In some educational settings, the cost of textbooks approaches or even exceeds the cost of tuition. Given limited resources, it is important to better understand the impacts of free open educational resources (OER) on student outcomes. Utilizing...

Examining Student Perception of an Open Statistics Book

Barbara Illowsky; John Hilton III; Justin Whiting; Jordan Ackerman

Open Praxis Vol. 8, No. 3 (Aug 22, 2016) pp. 265–276

The rise of Open Educational Resources (OER) research provides data that Open Textbooks and other forms of OER may be one cost saving approach for college and university students. Yet little research has been conducted around the attitudes and...

The Four "R"s of Openness and ALMS Analysis: Frameworks for Open Educational Resources

John Hilton; David Wiley; Jared Stein; Aaron Johnson

Open Learning Vol. 25, No. 1 (February 2010) pp. 37–44

A significant movement in education concerns the use of open educational resources. By "open" it is generally meant that the resource is available at no cost to others for adaptation and reuse in different contexts. However, "open" is not a simple...

Using Online Technologies to Extend a Classroom to Learners at a Distance

John L. Hilton; Charles Graham; Peter Rich; David Wiley

Distance Education Vol. 31, No. 1 (May 2010) pp. 77–92

The authors studied a course in which an instructor allowed individuals at a distance to participate. Although these students were not formally enrolled in the university where the class took place, the instructor gave them full access to all course ...

The Impact of Open Textbooks on Secondary Science Learning Outcomes

T Jared Robinson; Lane Fischer; David Wiley; John Hilton

Educational Researcher Vol. 43, No. 7 (October 2014) pp. 341–351

Given the increasing costs associated with commercial textbooks and decreasing financial support of public schools, it is important to better understand the impacts of open educational resources on student outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative...

Open Textbooks and Increased Student Access and Outcomes

Andrew Feldstein; Mirta Martin; Amy Hudson; Kiara Warren; John Hilton; David Wiley

European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning Vol. 2 (2010)

This study reports findings from a year-long pilot study during which 991 students in 9 core courses in the Virginia State University School of Business replaced traditional textbooks with openly licensed books and other digital content. The...

The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department

John Hilton III; Donna Gaudet; Phil Clark; Jared Robinson; David Wiley

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Vol. 14, No. 4 (Aug 28, 2013)

The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on one...

An OER COUP: College Teacher and Student Perceptions of Open Educational Resources

T J. Bliss; T Jared Robinson; John Hilton; David A. Wiley

Journal of Interactive Media in Education Vol. 2013, No. 1 (2013)

Despite increased development and dissemination, there has been very little empirical research on Open Educational Resources (OER). Teachers and students involved in a large-scale OER initiative at eight community colleges across the United States...

Three-Dimensional Printing of a Scalable Molecular Model and Orbital Kit for Organic Chemistry Teaching and Learning

Matthew R. Penny; Zi Jing Cao; Bhaven Patel; Bruno Sil dos Santos; Christopher R. M. Asquith; Blanka R. Szulc; Zenobia X. Rao; Zaid Muwaffak; John P. Malkinson; Stephen T. Hilton

Journal of Chemical Education Vol. 94, No. 9 (2017) pp. 1265–1271

Three-dimensional (3D) chemical models are a well-established learning tool used to enhance the understanding of chemical structures by converting two-dimensional paper or screen outputs into realistic three-dimensional objects. While commercial...