What “industry” means here
Education is not a single industry. Around teaching sit commercial publishers, online course providers, software vendors, bookshops and assessment companies, alongside the colleges and schools that are often public or non-profit. Open education touches these groups differently. This article looks at three areas: publishers, the textbook market, and institutions themselves. It describes education industry change as a set of pressures and responses, not a settled outcome.
Publishers
Traditional textbook publishers have long sold printed books, often with new editions released regularly. The arrival of openly licensed textbooks, which can be read free online and sometimes printed cheaply, created a credible alternative for some courses, especially large introductory ones where many students buy the same book.
Publishers have responded in several ways, none universal.
- Digital access models. Many moved toward subscriptions or bundled access, where students pay for a course package rather than a single book.
- Services around content. Homework systems, adaptive exercises and instructor tools are sold as extras that open text alone does not supply.
- Rental and used-book schemes. These lower the price of print without changing the content model.
- Participation in open projects. Some organizations have published openly licensed work or supported it, while keeping other products commercial.
It is difficult to say how much any of these responses was caused by open alternatives, since digital change, student price sensitivity and library licensing all play a part.
The textbook market
Textbook prices became a public concern in several countries, and that attention helped open textbooks gain notice. Where adoption is high in a course, students may save money, although the exact amount depends on what they would otherwise have bought and whether they would have used second-hand copies.
Open adoption in the market is still partial. Many courses continue to use commercial texts because staff value the supporting materials, because the available open titles do not match the syllabus, or because switching takes effort. Some subjects, particularly those with many introductory students, have more open options than specialist fields.
A point sometimes missed is that open does not mean free of cost to produce. Writing, reviewing, editing, accessibility work and hosting all cost money or time. The question is who pays, and how sustainable that arrangement is. Discussions of sustainable business models are a separate topic, covered elsewhere on this site.
Institutions
Institutions are both customers and, increasingly, producers. As customers, they pay for library subscriptions, course platforms and student-facing content. As producers, some now fund staff to create open materials, often through grants or internal programs.
Typical institutional adaptations include:
- Setting up small grant schemes for staff who adopt or create open materials.
- Training library and teaching-support staff in licensing and open resource searches.
- Reviewing contracts with commercial vendors, with an eye on cost and data practices.
- Considering whether to publish institutional content, such as short courses, under open licenses.
Some institutions also worry about competition, since a free course from anywhere is a click away. In practice, the evidence that free content has pulled students away from paid degrees is limited. Degrees bundle assessment, recognition, support and community that open content alone does not.
Online providers and credentials
Large online course providers, which became prominent in the early 2010s, often sell certificates or full programs alongside free content. The line between free and paid became a central business question. Smaller recognitions, such as micro-credentials, are also part of the picture, with employers and institutions still working out how much weight they carry.
Reading forecasts carefully
Predictions that open education will “disrupt” or “end” existing business models have appeared for years, and many have not come true as stated. A more careful reading is that:
- Some price pressure on certain kinds of content has been real.
- Commercial products have shifted toward services, platforms and subscriptions.
- Institutions are reconsidering what they pay for and what they might make themselves.
- Most of these changes are gradual, uneven and still in progress.
When you read a forecast, ask what the source stands to gain. A vendor, a funder, an advocate and a researcher may each describe the same changes differently, and numbers quoted without a clear source should not be relied upon.
What it means for a reader
For a student, the practical effect may be a cheaper or free text in some courses. For a teacher, it may be more choice and more work. For an administrator, it is a set of decisions about cost, risk and mission. For everyone, the long-term shape of the market is uncertain.