College presidents opine about OER and their comfort with digital learning issues

"Inside Higher Ed’s 2018 Survey of College and University Presidents, released late last week, focused much of its attention on ever-urgent issues like money and politics, not surprising at a time when many colleges are feeling intense financial pressure and campus leaders are grappling with a changing public policy landscape. But the study also examined several elements of the changing instructional landscape in higher education, with questions related to open educational resources, enrollments of online students and presidents' preparation for dealing with digital learning issues.

Textbooks and course materials. In line with Inside Higher Ed’s recent surveys of chief academic officers and faculty members’ views on technology, presidents strongly agreed (61 percent) that "textbooks and course materials cost too much." Thirty percent more agreed. Eighty-five percent of presidents also agreed (52 percent strongly) that colleges should embrace open educational resources, free and openly licensed online educational material. Presidents of doctorate-granting universities, public and private alike, were somewhat less likely than their peers at other institutions to agree, at 49 percent and 40 percent, respectively...."