Materials are only one part of the picture
Making course materials free or openly licensed removes one obstacle. It does not remove the others. A student can have a free textbook and still fail to complete a course because the timetable clashes with a job, nobody explained how to register, a laptop broke, or an advisor was not available when a problem first appeared.
Many of these obstacles are decided by administrators rather than teachers. This article looks at the levers administrators control and how they interact with open materials. It does not claim that any single change guarantees better results. Evidence on what helps students succeed is mixed, and what works in one institution may not work in another.
Scheduling and timetabling
Timetables look like logistics, but they shape who can attend and when. Sensible questions include:
- Are required sessions spread so that students with jobs or caring duties can attend?
- Are there recorded or flexible options when a live session is missed?
- Do deadlines for different courses pile up in the same week?
- Is there a gap between the start of term and the point when materials are available?
That last point is relevant to open resources. One of their practical advantages is that students can have the material on the first day, which is not always true when a book has to be ordered or bought. An administrator who sets up course pages and links before term starts helps make that advantage real.
Advising and early help
Advising is one of the clearest ways administrators affect learners. Students often leave without telling anyone, and the reasons are varied: money, health, family, confusion or loss of confidence. Looking at why students leave helps services target the right problems.
Practical steps within an administrator’s reach include:
- Making it easy to find out who an advisor is and how to book time.
- Setting up a simple way for teachers to flag a student who has stopped attending, so that someone follows up early.
- Ensuring that student support services are described plainly and are reachable online as well as in person.
- Training advisors on what open resources are, so they can answer students’ practical questions.
Learning analytics, where an institution uses data on logins or submissions to spot students at risk, can help, but it comes with privacy and fairness questions. Data can be misread, and a warning flag is a prompt for a conversation, not a verdict. Students should know what is collected and why.
Funding and small practical costs
Open materials reduce textbook costs, but students may still face other expenses: devices, internet access, printing, software or exam fees. Administrators can often make a difference with modest measures:
- Loan schemes for laptops or tablets, where budgets allow.
- Printing allowances or low-cost printed copies of open texts for those who prefer paper.
- Reliable campus Wi-Fi and quiet places to study.
- Emergency funds for students facing a sudden problem.
This ties into the broader issue of the access gap. If a course assumes everyone has a fast connection at home, open materials can end up helping those who already have the most. Offline-friendly formats and planned alternatives are practical responses.
Removing small obstacles
Small obstacles often matter more than big ones. A student might not know where to find the course page, may be confused by a login process, or may not realize that the materials are free and think they must buy something. Administrators can:
- Simplify sign-in so that students use one account.
- Give a clear, short guide to getting started, written in plain language.
- Check that course pages work on phones, since many students rely on them.
- Make sure that accessible formats are available and that students know how to ask for them.
Each of these is minor in isolation. Together they affect whether a student feels able to continue.
Supporting teachers so they can support students
Administrators also affect students indirectly through staff. Teachers who are given time and training to adapt materials can respond better to what their students need. Teachers who are overloaded may not. Decisions about workload, class sizes and professional development therefore influence student experience, even though they seem far removed from it.
A related point is recognition. If the institution values work on course design and shared materials, staff are more likely to invest in it. The educator’s side of this is covered in articles on teacher roles.
Measuring honestly
It is tempting to report that open materials raised retention or grades. Be careful. Many things change at once: the cohort, the staffing, the economy. A fair evaluation usually compares like with like, looks at several measures such as completion, progress and student comments, and admits what it cannot show.
Sensible measures include the proportion of students who have materials in the first week, completion rates in comparable courses and the number of students who sought and received help. Treat results as indications to investigate, not proof.
A short checklist
- Are materials, accounts and course pages ready before term starts?
- Can students tell quickly who to ask for help?
- Is there a way for teachers to flag students at risk early?
- Have we looked at costs beyond textbooks, such as devices and connectivity?
- Do timetables allow for flexible participation?
- Are we collecting only the data we need, and telling students about it?
- Are we measuring results honestly?
These questions are not a guarantee of success. They are a way of checking that the practical conditions around open materials give students a fair chance.