The Babson Survey Research Group recently published the results of a large survey that “examines the attitudes, opinions, and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) among teaching faculty.” The report, which was funded by Pearson and the Hewlett Foundation, found that while faculty are not very aware of open educational resources, they do appreciate the concepts of OER. Additional findings include:
- More faculty are using OER than report that they were aware of the term OER. Resource adoption decisions are driven by a wide variety of factors, with the efficacy of the material being cited most often.
- Faculty judge the quality of OER to be roughly equivalent to that of traditional educational resources.
- The most significant barrier to wider adoption of OER remains a faculty perception of the time and effort required to find and evaluate it.
- Faculty are the key decision makers for OER adoption. Faculty are almost always involved in an adoption decision and have the primary role.