This month’s blog post was contributed by Jenni Breems, Director of Library Services, Dordt University.

Each spring, Iowa OER collects usage statistics for open educational resources from colleges and universities across the state. It’s not spring yet, so think of this post as a very early pep talk.

Figure 1 from Iowa OER (2024, May). Open education initiatives in Iowa: Executive summary and report.

Why is OER usage data needed?

Be a bearer of good news! OER cost savings and improved student learning outcomes are welcome bright spots in campus conversations.

Iowa OER tracks the progress of its initiatives to support affordable higher education for students in the state of Iowa. The findings are presented in an annual report. Fundamentally, data about OER use supports Iowa college and university students.

OER statistics show how faculty and students at Iowa institutions are using open and free educational resources. This helps Iowa OER plan for future statewide initiatives. At the institutional level, knowledge of OER use can impact materials budgets, support faculty creativity, and increase student success.

How are OER statistics collected?

Unfortunately, there is no single magic bullet for collecting OER statistics. The processes vary significantly at each institution. So, adopt a sleuthing mindset and figure out how to obtain the needed data. This may involve conversations with the campus store, institutional research, the registrar, department chairs, individual faculty members, or other campus entities. OER advocacy has a strong relational component. Developing these relationships will allow for easier OER data collection in the spring.

The calculation of OER student savings requires three basic pieces of information:

• How many courses/sections are using OER in each semester?
• How many students are enrolled in those courses/sections?
• What is the estimated savings for each adopted OER textbook?

These three elements are multiplied together to determine student savings due to OER adoption.

How many courses have adopted OER texts?

Start with textbook adoption data from the campus store. If their reports don’t include freely available texts, create a list of courses that the campus store list is missing. Conduct a limited review of those syllabi to identify possible OER texts. Follow up with those faculty to learn about their textbook adoptions.

At my institution, I asked the campus store to add an option for freely available texts to their standard forms. They were willing to take my suggestions. The added language gave them another way to encourage faculty to fill out their textbook requisition forms.

How many students are enrolled in the courses that were identified?

This data will likely be available from the registrar or the office of institutional research. At my institution, the data is easier to collect during the current semester. After that, it becomes harder to obtain. So, consider a semester collection strategy instead of waiting until the spring.

What is the estimated cost savings for each adopted OER textbook?

Some formulas calculate the actual cost of OER textbook savings by looking at the sticker cost of a traditional text. Others average high and low costs of previous textbooks. Still others take an  estimate of students’ total textbook expenditures. However, all of these methods require additional data collection.

Using a standard number eliminates the need to collect additional data. However, even those standard numbers vary. For additional information about collecting OER statistics, watch this video introduction by Abbey Elder. Many institutions have adopted $100 as standard number to calculate OER cost savings (Hofer, 2017). The bonus of this choice is that $100 is an easy number to remember and  multiply.

After you have collected OER data for your college/university, share what you have found. Use the information on your local campus. OER adoption makes a great conversation starter or elevator speech. Can you share the ORE usage data with an administrator? In library communications? As an infographic?

Please, watch for our spring data collection request and contribute the data for OER use at your institution. It benefits our students and yours to know how OER are being leveraged across our institutions.

References

Elder, A. (2021, March 19). Collecting and reporting savings data: An introduction for OER program managers [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlS7PnBbspU

Hofer, A. (2017). Is the average cost of a textbook $100? OpenOregon Educational Resources. https://openoregon.org/is-the-average-cost-of-a-textbook-100/

Iowa OER. (2024). Annual OER survey dashboard. https://iowaoer.com/annual-oer-survey-dashboard/

Iowa OER. (2024, May). Open education initiatives in Iowa: Executive summary and report. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h0XJEUruwFum5hf5VMlYL78QZYFw4NlU/view?usp=drive_link