Supporting Open Textbook Creation
19
Stefanie Buck
Sustainability in OER can take on many dimensions. As Downes (2007) points out, it’s important to look at the big picture of sustainability and the “total cost of ownership” of OER which includes not just the creation of the OER but the ongoing upkeep and maintenance. Sustainability refers in part to the longevity of the program-how will you use the funds that you have to create and maintain OER? There are other considerations too. Wiley’s (2007) On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education is an excellent resource that summarizes some of the challenges around the sustainability of OER.
Wiley (2007) defines sustainability in OER initiatives as:
“… the ability of a project to continue its operations. And certainly, the idea of continuing is a critical part of the meaning of sustainability. However, we cannot place value on the simple ongoing machinations of a project and staff who produce nothing of value. So the definition of sustainability should include the idea of accomplishing goals in addition to ideas related to longevity. Hereafter, sustainability will be defined as an open educational resource project’s ongoing ability to meet its goals. [emphasis added]”
Institutional Support
First, it is important to acknowledge that without institutional integration on all levels, an OER program cannot be sustained (OECD 2007). One of the main components of a sustainable OER program is having the support and infrastructure in place to help these projects develop (Desrochers 2019). It is recommended that an institutional OER policy be developed to affirm the institutional commitment to OER as well as lay out the purpose and expectations for creating and implementing OER in the classroom (Desrochers 2019). Having these supports in place will make it easier to encourage faculty to experiment with OER.
Resources
Funding is usually the first thing people think about when they hear the word sustainability (Wiley 2007). Free-to-use resources are not free to create. As the project manager, you are likely aware of this. It is not, however, always obvious to everyone else just how much goes into creating and sustaining OER. Even projects that have an enthusiastic institution that provides “start-up” funding can falter without additional or sustained support (Annand 2015).
There are many potential funding models out there, but funding typically comes from the institution or a government or non-governmental organization (NGO). Examples of funding models include:
- Community-based donations
- Institutional (which may be at the institution level, department level, or from a specific support office such as Academic Affairs)
- Government
- Philanthropic/NGO
- Endowment
- Commercial (e.g., Lumen Learning)
- Partnerships (e.g., OpenStax’s strategic partnerships with commercial partners)
One additional and more unusual model is the Increased Tuition Revenue through OER model describe