Open educational resources (OERs), which are teaching, learning, and research materials that are openly licensed, are growing in popularity in higher education. Previous studies have focused on faculty and student perceptions and use of OERs. This study offers a transformative new way to incorporate OERs into college courses by engaging students in active learning through the design of OERs for a global audience. This paper presents post-course survey data collected from 69 undergraduate and graduate students from six different courses that featured OER design projects, including: 1) an open online course about designing digital media for teaching and learning; 2) online tools for teaching and learning website; 3) history/social studies wiki pages; 4) educational film project; 5) open online course about professional learning networks for educators; and 6) teaching with technology eBook. Findings indicate that shifting students’ roles from consumers to producers of OERs increased motivation, improved attitudes about learning, aided the achievement of course learning objectives, and supported the development of valuable skills for 21st century success.