Assessing the significance of course materials for graduate program admission

Abstract

Enrollment into graduate programs continue to increase. Given major changes occurring within education (e.g., online courses and OER integration), it is imperative for faculty and students to be aware of the impact these changes could entail to those with higher education aspirations. The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) is one important change that has occurred with respect to the types of academic materials used in higher education courses. The use of OER has significantly expanded over the past decade. Resources accessible under the caption of OER are free and available in the public domain. Currently, there is little information regarding how these changes might affect graduate school applications or admission. The purpose of this study was to examine the importance of academic materials used in undergraduate classes in the evaluation of individuals for graduate admission. The results indicated that academic materials are the least important factor utilized for admission criteria. This result may indicate that the use of Open Educational Resources, low cost or free course materials with a copyright license that allows for reuse, should not impact the likelihood of a student being accepted into a graduate program.