Open Education and Open Educational Resources Research Agenda

This research agenda is a resource supporting a decade of growth in open educational resources (OER) and the increasing need for coordinated, evidence-based strategies that strengthen affordability, access to required course materials, and student success. It is a collaboration between the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) together as the National Consortium for Open Educational Resources (NCOER). The agenda was informed by an extensive consultation process involving literature review, national surveys, and interviews with researchers, faculty, librarians, system leaders, and policy stakeholders. 

Amongst the findings are six research areas of focus including student outcomes, long-term sustainability and support, Open Education and artificial intelligence, evolving cost-savings and affordability research, discipline-specific approaches and shared collaboration and infrastructure.