This presentation describes reports of 13 OER implementations at higher educational institutions in Canada, the USA and five other countries. All implementations have resulted in significant cost savings for students and/or institutions. There was no general consensus on any other benefit or even challenges experienced by the different institutions. Nevertheless, there were some significant commonalities that will be described in this paper, which describes the opportunity, the innovations, benefits and challenges as well as the future potential for OER in their respective institutions.
I am the UNESCO/Commonwealth of Learning/International Council for Open and Distance Education Chair in Open Educational Resources and the director of TEKRI at Athabasca University