University of Buffalo Launches an Open Education Research Lab

From the U. of Buffalo:

The Graduate School of Education has joined the SUNY-wide effort to reduce the costs of higher education by launching an Open Education Research Lab dedicated to replacing high-priced textbooks and other costly materials by studying the use of open or free educational materials that can be downloaded, edited or shared.
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The UB effort aligns the university with a statewide effort to enhance and extend the use of these open educational resources. The New York State budget has allocated $16 million for these resources in the last two years.
“Open educational resources are educational resources that are similar to any other, such as textbooks, presentations and assessments, but are free to use by anyone for any purpose,” says [Sam] Abramovich, [director of UB’s Open Education Research Lab and assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education] whose work on emerging technology for instruction and assessment has included using open digital badges to motivate learning.
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UB’S Open Educational Research Lab has the ambitious goal of studying SUNY’s systemic open education efforts and then making learned lessons available to all.
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Other current research efforts by the UB lab include studying how an OER compares to traditional resources when the method of instruction is the same, as well as a study on how micro-credentials can be deployed at a larger public educational institution.

Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement
Direct to Open Education Research Lab Website

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