Open education research explores various aspects of open educational resources (OER) and practices, focusing on social justice, cost, outcomes, perceptions, and engagement (SCOPE). It also examines the impact and outcomes of open pedagogy and other open educational practices.
As open education initiatives evolve, it is crucial to study their impacts to advocate for institutional support, innovate, and advance equitable access. Research in this field enhances our understanding of how open education affects students, faculty, and staff, helping the community reflect on and improve its practices. Open education research is vital for a thriving open ecosystem.
Examples of research done at KPU include,
Other notable publications include discussions on how open educational practices support institutional strategic excellence (Carey, Davis, Ferreras, & Porter, 2015), tensions within the open education movement (Jhangiani, 2017), and an edited volume about open education, open science, and open access (Jhangiani & Biswas-Diener, 2017).
Adapted from The range of B.C. research on open by Tannis Morgan, licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
Here are some useful places to search for open education research:
While open education research is research on open education practices, open research refers to the practice of making research openly available. Open research is often tied to the practice of open science. This is most commonly done through publishing research as open access, or using open data.
For more information and support on publishing research as open access, contact Karen Meijer, Scholarly Communications Librarian.