OER reaches ‘inflection point,’ and states are leading the charge

After years of dabbling with open educational resources (OER), educators have finally begun to embrace the concept as a legitimate alternative to traditional publishing and licensed curriculum materials — and they’re doing it in droves.

More than half of U.S. states — including Michigan, Indiana, Utah and Washington — are currently developing, or have already developed, digital libraries to house their OER. These states are also now encouraging teachers and entire districts to adopt free, openly licensed resources in lieu of costly, often-out-of-date textbooks.