Tools to Help 21st Century Students Achieve Their Postsecondary Education Goals and Keep America Competitive

This article is from Center for American Progress

Open courseware and other open educational resources are beginning to draw the attention of higher education policymakers and other leaders. Why? Simply put, these web-based educational tools hold the promise of both reducing the cost of higher education and helping learners to complete their degrees by providing access to top quality course materials and instruction.

By radically reducing the costs of course content, delivery of instruction, textbooks, and related materials these open resources can make college more affordable. Further, by enabling “learning-from-anywhere” for students who have work and family obligations, the same technologies provide expanded access to higher education for millions of nontraditional learners.