Use of Open Educational Resources in K-12 Schools 2018 is a new look at how open educational resources are permeating classrooms in U.S. schools. Areas explored in the report include:

*an overview of the OER landscape, which found educators looking to OER as a good fit with current pedagogy and the digital evolution, with low cost being an additional benefit;
*challenges when using OER, most notably the sheer volume of OER materials and uneven quality that can make it hard to identify and vet the materials;
*case studies from states, districts and OER initiatives;
*key providers of OER, with discussion of the role commercial publishers can play as a distributor into K12 districts and as a provider of added value such as professional development, physical editions of OER material, guidebooks and customized editions for special populations.

The author’s research for this report included telephone interviews with district personnel responsible for OER, including primarily curriculum and instruction leaders, but also educational technology directors, content area specialists, personalized learning directors, and instructional materials consultants.

The author also interviewed leaders from the Teaching and Learning/Academic Content departments of three states that have been at the forefront of fostering, creating, and partnering on OER at the state level - Washington, Utah, and Louisiana - and directors of two significant OER initiatives, the Michigan Open Book Project and OpenSciEd.

The qualitative information was supplemented by relevant, publicly distributed third-party research on various facets of OER from respected organizations, and by a review of company/organizational information disseminated by leading purveyors of OER.

Keywords

educational trends · OER best practices · OER challenges · OER key players · OER textbooks · OER use by subject