(OER content itself is typically free, but platforms like Lumen typically charge a per-student, per-course fee to use the platform through which the content is delivered, which often includes homework and feedback tools and other services that textbook publishers have increasingly wrapped around their textbooks.)

"To the extent that Knewton provides value-added services that map onto OER (which should itself be accessible outside of their proprietary platform), this would be a case of a popular business model known as open-wrapping," said Jhangiani. This model is "growing in popularity among large commercial publishers and other for-profit players in this space such as Lumen Learning," he said.  If big publishers really add value to OER, then open-wrapping is not necessarily a bad thing, said Jhangiani. This is different to "openwashing" where publishers spin a product as open while continuing proprietary practices, he explained.

The expansion of publishers into course platforms, online homework packages, and course-in-a-box represents more of the same expansion of the publisher’s realm.

Being able to wrap great OER content with technology that offers instructors the ability to personalize the learning experience, while also providing analytics, is key for OER to have a permanent place in learning.

“the opportunity for us to be able to allow them to supplement the OER with premium content and help them improve their in-class experience.”Students will still be charged for the company’s premium products, which includes Test, which costs $10 per four-month term to build tests and quizzes, and Classroom, a platform where teachers can check attendance and engage with students in various lessons, assignments and activities. (Pricing for Classroom varies, with students paying either $26, $38 or $75 depending on the duration.)

Concerned about commercial publishers profiting from open educational resources, a group of advocates wants organizations and individuals that benefit from OER to think about giving back.

Can you imagine a day when many of the most important contributions to many of the most important OER and open textbook projects are made by people who work for for-profit publishers and other companies, and who contribute to OER as part of their formal job responsibilities? Can you imagine a day when many of the world’s most-used OER were originally published by companies, who continue to invest in their ongoing updates and maintenance? Can you imagine a day when companies are releasing millions of new words, images, videos, and interactives under open licenses each year?

At core, Wiley sees 'commercial' as good, while I don't. More accurately, I think, Wiley sees 'commercial' as the only good, while I think that public and community-based non-commercial alternatives are equally viable.

In addition to the expertly curated OER content, Intellus Open Courses include a suite of support services, including learning management system integration, on-demand training and implementation support, instructor supplements, and customization tools. Instructors can access Intellus Learning to customize, reuse, remix, and redistribute their open course content. Licensing data is available for each content item so instructors know which open resources can be modified as well. Instructors can also leverage Intellus Learning's cornerstone engagement analytics at any time to optimize courses to meet learning objectives.

Traditional academic publishing can no longer keep pace with the thing it sells—knowledge—and it is losing ground to OER’s adaptability and continually improving quality.

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