Open Educational Resources (OER) provide openly licensed alternatives to commercial instructional materials. Proponents of K-12 OER suggest that their benefits include cost savings, increased access, improved quality, and increased teacher professionalism or empowerment. While the small body of K-12 OER research is growing, perceived benefits of K-12 OER usage have not yet been thoroughly proven. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand whether certain potential benefits were being realized by a group of secondary teachers using open science textbooks. In surveys and interviews, teachers were asked to describe their classroom practice before and after adopting an open textbook, including practices relating to openness. Teachers were also asked to rate the quality of the open textbooks they were using and textbooks used previously. Early analysis suggests that while teachers appreciated the flexibility and low cost of their open textbooks, adoption of open textbooks did not greatly impact classroom practice, nor promote open practice. The researcher will present findings from the study and lead a discussion about the implications for educators, researchers, and the future of open textbooks.
