In May, the homework-help site that relies on student-generated content, Course Hero, dipped its toes into freely available, openly licensed alternatives known as Open Educational Resources, or OER, course materials. The company took over hosting some popular OER offerings hosted by Lumen Learning, a courseware provider that argues that OER can make higher education more equitable.It’s the secrecy of the deal and the lack of clarity around it that’s, at least in part, caused some of the reaction, according to Bryan Alexander, a futurist and senior scholar at Georgetown University.
