Thinking About the Impacts of OER

The COUP Framework is the Open Education Group Links to an external site.’s framework for studying the impact of open textbooks and open educational resources in K-12 and post-secondary education. COUP stands for:

Cost
Outcomes
Use
Perceptions

This video provides a quick introduction to the COUP Framework and highlights OpenEd Group research examples in each of the four categories.

David Wiley overviews some empirical research
on the effectiveness of open educational resources

The Open Education Group Links to an external site. describes the components of the framework as:

Cost. Proponents of open textbooks and open educational resources frequently claim that using these materials instead of traditional publisher textbooks and online courses will save students money in the post-secondary context and will save organizations money in the K-12 context. The Cost strand of our work provides evidence related to these claims.

Outcomes. Given the folk wisdom that “you get what you pay for,” some individuals and organizations worry that student learning will necessarily suffer when students use free resources instead of $175 textbooks. The Outcomes strand of our work provides evidence related to these claims. In the post-secondary context, we’re particularly interested in completion, success (completion with a C or better grade), persistence (enrollment next semester), and intensity (number of courses taken in a semester). Does the significant cost savings provided by OER correlate with meaningful improvements in any of these outcomes?

Use. Proponents of open textbooks and open educational resources frequently claim that the permissions provided by open licenses allow students to use these materials in novel ways – for example, writing a new section based on current events for a modern history course. However, there is very little evidence that students are exercising these new permissions. Likewise, proponents claim that the permissions of open licenses allow teachers to engage in new pedagogical practices – like adapting, revising, and remixing materials. However, there is very little evidence that teachers are exercising these new permissions. The Use strand of our work provides evidence related to these claims.

Perceptions. What do students think about open textbooks and open educational resources? How do they judge their quality relative to traditional textbooks? How do they feel about open textbooks and OER? Do they find the formats, structures, designs, etc., easy to navigate? Frustrating? What about teachers? And what about other stakeholders, like parents or policy makers? The Perceptions strand of our work seeks to understand these questions.

This page is adapted from the OpenEd Group website.