Open Educational Resources Movement Welcomes Growing Pains
a letter to the Editor of the Chronicle of Higher education, by David Wiley, Chief Academic Officer, Lumen Learning. (Apr 2-17). Excerpt of letter....early majority of faculty who want to adopt OER need more and different levels of support compred to the support the movement has provided to innovators and early adopters for the last decade an a half. The many efforts now underway to develop and provide this support are a natural response to this need. These latest growing pains are also worth navigating, as research indicates that OER adoption leads to drastically reduced textbook costs and the same - or better -- academic outcomes like course completion and grades.
TOOLS TO ASSIST YOU
Learning Portal Toolkit - Ontario College Libraries - Open Educational Resources (OER) provide equal access to resources at no cost to students. This toolkit provides information and tools to help faculty and library staff across all publicly funded colleges in Ontario to understand, engage with, and sustain OER in their work and practice.
Case Studies
Student PIRGs Open Textbook Reports - The student PIRGs has been a leader in research on textbooks for more than a decade, starting with the release of "Ripoff 101" in 2004. This link is to the chronological list of reports and research the Student PIRGs has published on textbooks.
Open Education Group Review Project - Conducts and publishes original research on costs, efficacy, and adoption of OER. Links to a bibliography of OER articles and dissertations auhored by researchers affiliated with the project. Primary researchers are Lane Fisher, John Hilton III, and David Wiley (all represented in the bibliography).
Given the recent interest in open educational resources, the research landscape in this field is constantly changing. We've compiled a selective list of articles covering a variety of OER-related topics, most of which are accessible online.
Jensen, Kristi & Shane Nackerud, Eds. "The Evolution of Affordable Content Efforts in the Higher Education Environment: Programs, Case Studies, and Examples." Pressbooks.com
Highly informative source of OER intiatives and success stories of OER in higher education.
Allen, Elaine I., and Jeff Seaman. "Opening The Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2015-2016." Babson Survey Research Group (2016). Web.
"Most higher education faculty are unaware of open educational resources (OER) – but they are interested and some are willing to give it a try. Survey results, using responses of over 3,000 U.S. faculty, show that OER is not a driving force in the selection of materials – with the most significant barrier being the effort required to find and evaluate such materials. Use of open resources is low overall, but somewhat higher for large enrollment introductory-level courses." - Executive Summary
"Open Educational Resources (OER) and the Evolving Higher Education Landscape" Cengage Learning (2016). Web.
"Open Educational Resources are undoubtedly here to stay, and they can add variety, quality, and depth to the educational resources pool — at lower cost. But given the myriad OER options available from equally myriad sources — and the time and energy required to find, organize, and integrate them into higher education courses — “open” doesn’t necessarily mean “free.” Expect incumbent education and technology companies such as Cengage Learning to embrace the movement and apply their content knowledge, cutting-edge learning technology platforms, and services expertise to create value-added digital solutions that help institutions use OER to its best advantage." - Conclusion
Armellini, Alejandro, and Ming Nie. "Open Educational Practices For Curriculum Enhancement." Open Learning 28.1 (2013): 7-20. Academic Search Premier. Web.
Reports on open educational practices (OEP) and the adoption and adaptation of OER in UK universities. Suggests ways institutions can support the use and creation of OER, with the goal of making OER adoption more sustainable and widespread.
Bliss, T.J., John Hilton III, David Wiley, and Kim Thanos. "The Cost and Quality of Online Open Textbooks: Perceptions of Community College Faculty and Students." First Monday, 18.1 (2013): n. pag. Web.
Studied satisfaction rates and perceptions of OER in a community college population. Generally, the open textbooks used in this study were well received, but issues with technology or flawed OER texts result in negative perceptions by students.
Feldstein, Andrew, Mirta Martin, Amy Hudson, Kiara Warren, John Hilton III, and David Wiley. "Open Textbooks And Increased Student Access And Outcomes." European Journal Of Open, Distance And E-Learning 2 (2012): ERIC. Web.
Core business courses at Virginia State University replaced traditional textbooks with OER content, resulting in more students accessing the textbook (compared to sales of hard copies) and higher grades. Students surveyed reported very high satisfaction with OER materials.
Fischer, Lane. John Hilton III, T. Jared Robinson, and David Wiley. "A Multi-Institutional Study of the Impact of Open Textbook Adoption on the Learning Outcomes of Post-Secondary Students." Journal of Computing in Higher Education 27.3 (December 2015): 159-172. Web.
Research study across multiple institutions on the efficacy of OER materials in undergraduate classes. Students assigned to OER materials had more favorable outcomes in several areas including course completion rates, course grades, and enrollment in future courses.
Pawlyshyn, Nancy, Dr. Braddlee, Linda Casper, and Howard Miller. "Adopting OER: A Case Study of Cross-Institutional Collaboration and Innovation." Educause Review. Educause (4 Nov. 2013): n. pag. Web.
Implementing OER in an underperforming first-year seminar at Mercy College (NY) boosts student retention and learning. Faculty collaboration, excitement, and innovation are credited with a successful and quick implementation. Instructional design, assessment, implementation issues, and recommendations are discussed.
Hilton III, John, and Carol Laman. "One College’s Use Of An Open Psychology Textbook." Open Learning 27.3 (2012): 265-272. Academic Search Premier. Web.
Students using OER outperformed peers using traditional course materials in an introductory psychology class at Houston Community College. Thorough discussion of cost savings for community college students when OER materials are adopted.
Hilton III, John, T. Jared Robinson, David Wiley, and J. Dale Ackerman. "Cost-Savings Achieved in Two Semesters Through the Adoption of Open Educational Resources." The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 15.2 (2014). Web.
Students enjoyed significant savings in eight colleges where OER materials were used. Study data and comparisons to traditional textbook prices are examined.
Sutton, Shan C., and Faye A. Chadwell. "Open Textbooks At Oregon State University: A Case Study Of New Opportunities For Academic Libraries And University Presses." Journal Of Librarianship & Scholarly Communication 4.4 (2014): 34-48. Academic Search Premier. Web.
A joint undertaking in open textbook authorship and publishing between Oregon State University Libraries and OSU’s Extended Campus (eCampus). Article highlights issues of libraries as content creators/managers, the role of the OSU Press, adoption of OER materials, and next steps for the project moving forward. Authors recommend inter-institutional collaboration in creating OER texts to avoid duplication of effort and to reach the most users.
