Why OER?

Each semester, as instructors we must decide which textbook and educational resources we will use to help achieve the learning outcomes we’ve established for our courses. Most often, we default to requiring textbooks from mainstream publishers because they offer convenience and an abundance of helpful tools. However, these educational resources often come with a steep price tag and do not offer the customizability that we desire as instructors.

In recent years, there has been a growing movement towards adopting open educational resources in college classrooms (Spilovoy, Seaman, & Ralph, 2020). According to UNESCO, open education resources (OER) are materials for teaching or learning that are either in the public domain or have been released under a license that allows them to be freely used, changed, or shared with others. Open educational resources can include textbooks, videos, articles, podcasts, images, assignments, rubrics, simulations, activities, assessments, as well as any resource instructors have created.

In this workshop, we discussed how the practice of using OER can result in a more meaningful, successful, and enjoyable learning experience. Here are few ways the adoption of OER can benefit both students and instructors:

  • Affordability: OER are available to students at no cost. It well-known that both tuition and textbook costs have continued to climb (Ma & Pender, 2022). A recent study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (2021) revealed that 65% of the students surveyed did not purchase or rent the textbook due to cost, even if they were concerned that it may negatively impact their performance in the course. Thus, a shift to OER helps alleviate this financial burden and prevent students from having to make such a difficult choice.
  • Access: Because OER are free, these types of resources are readily available to all students. According to a study published in the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2018), “OER is an equity strategy for higher education: providing all students with access to course materials on the first day of class serves to level the academic playing field in course settings.”
  • Customizability: Because of the flexibility and customizability afforded by OER, instructors have complete control over the selection and presentation of the course material. The creative commons copyright allows the instructor to edit and adapt these resources (at any point) to meet the specific learning outcomes of the course. Additionally, instructors are able to offer learning materials in various formats that include a more diverse collection of voices and perspectives.
  • Engagement: Studies suggest students are more engaged with their learning when their instructors switch to teaching with OER (Bliss, Robinson, Hilton, & Wiley, 2013; Jaggars, Rivera, & Akani, 2019). In a recent study, faculty members attributed greater student engagement to their use of more contemporary and relevant materials. Students agreed stating that they perceived OER materials to be better aligned with course outcomes and overall more engaging (Griffiths et. al, 2018).

Despite the many benefits, the thought of taking a “build-your-own” approach by incorporating OER can be daunting and overwhelming. However, this does not need to be the case – open educational resources do not necessarily mean you must be an OEI (over-extended instructor)! Thus, the goal of this workshop was to introduce an incremental approach towards integrating OER in order to enhance your current curriculum.

Incremental Approach

  1. Take Inventory of Your Needs
    In accordance with a backward design approach, begin by considering the learning outcomes for one of your lessons or units – consider what you want students to have learned, felt, or experienced at the end of the lesson. Create a “content inventory” for each lesson to help you identify and catalogue what educational resources (articles, videos, activities, etc.) are needed to achieve your desired objective. Keep in mind that, as is the case with traditional textbooks, it is rare that you will find a singular OER that will perfectly meet your needs for the entire course. Thus, focusing on just one course concept at a time will allow you to more successfully (and efficiently) locate a relevant OER.
  2. Locate a Relevant OER
    Once you have identified a concept or outcome, you will be able to conduct a more a targeted search for an OER that will meet your specific need. There are several approaches for locating OER. Open textbooks are accessible through curated repositories such as MERLOT, OpenStax, or OER Commons. Videos, news articles, and podcasts can typically be found using an Advanced Google Search. Colleagues and students are also often an overlooked resource for acquiring new activities, rubrics, and assignments. Additionally, the TCU Library and Koehler Center have created resources to aid your search.
  3. Evaluate the Quality of the OER
    Before adopting an OER, it is important to confirm that it is a quality resource. Consider both its credibilityand utility. As an informationally literate expert in your field, you should be able to determine whether the content is current and accurate and if the creator is a reliable and reputable source of information. Consider how the resource will be perceived by students – select resources that are professionally designed, include quality graphics, and are free of typos or grammatical errors. Additionally, consider whether a resource is suitable for the students’ knowledge level, is an appropriate length, meets students’ accessibility needs, and has been released under an open license (e.g. Creative Commons license).

4.   Incorporate the OER into your Course
Once you have vetted your OER, you must decide how you will make it available to students. The simplest approach is to create a D2L content module with a direct link to the resource (“Create a Link” ). When using this approach, I recommend including additional context (e.g., learning objectives and reflection questions) and/or instruction (e.g., recommended time or playback speed) to help students most effectively engage with the resource. A more customized approach is to embed the resource into D2L using the “Create a File”feature. This allows you to edit, revise, and adapt the resource to meet your specific needs. Make sure you include an attribution based on the Creative Commons license. Additionally, OER can be printed and distributed, shared via Box, or compiled in a PressBook.

Next Steps

Taking an incremental approach to integrating OER into your course(s) increases feasibility and promotes the careful curation of quality resources. Transitioning to OER can be a time consuming and laborious process; however, the potential benefits – affordability, access, customizability, engagement – cannot be ignored. Our goal as instructors at TCU is provide the best learning experience possible for our students. I challenge you to explore all types of resources – including OER – to ensure this outcome for your students.

References

Bliss, T., Robinson, T., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). An OER coup: College teacher and student perceptions of open educational resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education,(1), Art. 4. https://doi.org/10.5334/2013-04

Colvard, N. B., Watson, C. E., & Park, H. (2018). The impact of open educational resources on various student success metrics. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 30(2), 262-276.

Griffiths, R., Gardner, S., Lundh, P., Shear, L., Ball, A., Mislevy, J., Wang, S.,   Desrochers, D., Staisloff, R. (2018). Participant Experiences and Financial Impacts: Findings from Year 2 of Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Jaggars, S. S., Rivera, M. D., & Akani, B. (2019). College textbook affordability: Landscape, evidence, and policy directions. Midwestern Higher Education Compact.

Ma, J., & Pender, M. (2022). Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2022. New York, NY: College Board.

Nagle, C., & Vitez, K. (2021). Fixing the broken textbook market (3rd ed.). U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.

Spilovoy, T., Seaman, J., & Ralph, N. (2020). The Impact of OER Initiatives on Faculty Selection of Classroom Materials. WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies & Bay View Analytics.

UNESCO. (n.d.). Open Educational Resources (OER). Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/en/open-educational-resources?hub=785.

Katherine Forsythe

This article was written by Katherine E. Forsythe, M.S., Instructor, College of Communication for the Fall 2023 Issue of Insights.