Containing educational costs

This chapter looks at the common expectation that open educational resources (OER) lead to cost savings for private households and the public purse. It differentiates between initial development costs and maintenance costs once an OER has been developed and is being used. The development costs may be the same, higher or lower than the original educational resources they are replacing – depending on what the OER are being used for. Maintenance costs can be low, but are dependent on maintenance being coordinated and happening. Examples are given of countries that have been liberalising their procurement strategies for educational resources in the expectation that OER will help save costs without a negative impact on quality. The practical cases of OER use presented in the chapter further emphasise the cost-saving potential of reusing and widely distributing existing resources.