Customize & Adapt

McCoy-Simmons (2022) writes that “a one-size-fits-all approach to OER is infeasible” because many people in higher education still encounter barriers, and these barriers can widely differ between departments, institutions, and states. “For example, while introducing OER policies can be a successful step in implementing OER in one institution, this could be detrimental in another that is less trusting of administration or relies more on a bottom-up approach (Cox & Trotter, 2016)” (McCoy-Simmons, 2022).

The customization of approaches to OER efficacy, and OER more generally, was a recurring theme throughout the research conducted to write this guide. The ‘one size fits all’ approach is not realistic. What works for your institution may not work for another institution. Many educators and researchers have dedicated their time to looking at this. Grimaldi et al., notes that the success of intervention “will almost always depend on the context in which it is implemented.” (2019)

Ebner et al. stress the significance of designing evaluation metrics that take into account aspects specific to your OER activities (2022). In order to help clearly define an institution’s OER purpose and goals, they also recommend educators, researchers, and administrators to look at current OER policies and measurements of efficacy. Be sure to customize your research to your own unique institutional context, so that it aligns with your vision and goals. OER advocates should tailor their information to audiences and the decisions those audiences make (Zaback, 2022).