OER: The What, Why, Where, and How
- 1. Open Educational Resources (OER) The What, Why, Where and How Except where otherwise noted
- 2. Open Education “Encompasses educational resources, tools, and practices that can be freely and fully used in the digital environment without legal, financial, or technical barriers.” “When teachers, learners, and members of society leverage all the new pathways offered by technology to create & share knowledge together, they are participating in open education.” -SPARC https://sparcopen.org/open-education/ Pillars of Open Education 1. Open Educational Resources 2. Open Educational Practices 3. Open Education Policy
- 3. What is OER? "Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are freely available online for everyone to use, whether you are an instructor, student or self-learner. Examples of OER include: full courses, course modules, syllabi, lectures, homework assignments, quizzes, lab and classroom activities, pedagogical materials, games, simulations, and many more resources contained in digital media collections from around the world." Source: https://www.oercommons.org/
- 4. Why use OER? Benefits for both students and instructors!
- 5. Student Barriers to Education College Readiness Family support Financial/Cost
- 6. Cost The cost barrier kept 2.4 million low and moderate-income college-qualified high school graduates from completing college in the previous decade.
- 7. Cost The average borrower owes more than $28,650 in student loans (class of 2016). Missouri =$27,108 MSU= Average debt of graduates from 2017= $25,714
- 8. Burden of Costs & Food Insecurity ● Food pantries on campuses tackle food insecurity ● How to start a food pantry on campus ● MSU Bear Pantry
- 9. What can we do? Tuition and Fees Room and Board Books and Supplies Personal Expenses Transportation
- 10. The average student should budget $1,220 - $1,420 for textbooks and course materials in 2017-18. https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-estimated-undergraduate-budgets-2017-18 https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/compare/tables/?state=MO°ree=Undergraduate Average of Missouri Institutions = $1,301 Cost of Textbooks
- 11. In your academic career, has the cost of required textbooks caused you to: 2012 2016 63.6% 66.5% Not purchase the required textbook 49.2% 47.6% Take fewer courses 45.1% 45.5% Not register for a specific course 33.9% 37.6% Earn a poor grade 26.7% 26.1% Drop a course 17.0% 19.8% Fail a course http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf
- 12. Impact of OER on student success ● Across 13 academic, peer-reviewed studies pertaining to student learning, none showed results in which students who utilized OER performed worse than their peers who used traditional textbooks ● Researchers found that students in courses that used OER more frequently had better grades and lower failure and withdrawal rates than their counterparts in courses that did not use OER ● Students who receive Pell grants, part-time students, and populations historically underserved by higher education show even higher improvements in grades and reductions in D/F/W rates than their peers. ● Survey- 82% of students felt they would do significantly better in a course if the textbook was available free online and buying a hard copy was optional.
- 13. OER Advantages for Faculty ● Continuous quality improvement ● Control over content ● Open education supports true academic freedom ● Open pedagogy
- 15. Why is OER important? Reduces cost and increases college affordability Student access from day 1 Greater diversity of learning environments Student Success Academic Freedom Open resources are one way to address the rising costs of education, and they also have the potential to facilitate new styles of teaching and learning. Open resources have the potential to spur pedagogical innovation, introducing new alternatives for effective teaching
- 16. MSU Affordability Programs ● MSU Textbook Affordability and Accessibility ● FCTL grants and stipends ○ OER Zero Textbook Course
- 17. Where do you find OER? ● OER Repositories ○ Merlot ○ OpenStax ○ BCcampus OpenEd ○ Open Textbook Library ○ Open SUNY ○ OER Commons ○ Affordable Learning Georgia ● OER Search Tools ○ OASIS ○ Mason OER Metafinder
- 18. Steps for Finding OER 1. Set aside some time 2. Develop a search strategy (items to think about) a. Identify keywords related to your subject including course name and discipline b. Education level c. Learning objectives d. Asset type e. License type 3. Conduct searches in multiple locations and compile list of OER that matches Challenges: lack of centralized location for searching and the availability of fewer reviews of OER content Tip: Work with your OER Librarian to help compile lists of potential OER resources.
- 19. How do you Evaluate OER? Evaluating the quality of educational resources is important, regardless of whether they are open or closed
- 20. Criteria ● Accuracy / Quality of Content ● Relevance ● Production Quality ● Accessibility ● Interactivity ● Cultural Relevance & Sensitivity ● Licensing ● Ease of Adaptability ● Depends on your needs ● Various criteria checklists available including through OER repositories ● Does this resource help your student achieve the learning goals?
- 22. What can you do to get involved with OER? ● Evaluate an Open Textbook ● Adopt an OER Textbook ● Incorporate OER materials into your courses ● Create an OER Textbook or other materials ● Collaborate with your Librarians ● Still not there? That’s ok! ○ Incorporate library purchased materials into your courses ○ Textbooks on Reserve ○ Discuss future and potential OER options
- 23. Assistance with OER ● OER Subject Guide ● OER open sessions- 1:00-3:00 on Fridays ● Contact me: TracyStout@missouristate.edu ● Contact FCTL for Instructional Design support: fctl@missouristate.edu
- 24. Questions?? Thank you for attending!
Editor's Notes
- #2: Some sections adapted from: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rW40wZyVUFuxJ8zCfkFBOJ7quCNYlwF4/view?usp=sharing Intro Overview of presentation Who I am
- #3: Education is essential to advancing society. It is how we pass down the wealth of human knowledge and equip the next generation. Educational systems are built with the goals of providing every person the opp to build a better life.
- #4: Several definitions of OER, Free plus permission The foundation upon which open education is built. Materials that are distributed at no cost with legal permission for the public to freely use, share, and build upon the content. Open textbooks, lecture videos, presentation slides, assessments, software, articles, and other kinds of content published online and shared openly with the world. Resources in the public domain or carry and open license granting legal permission for their use
- #6: I’m going to talk today about the financial or cost barrier First Gen story What got me interested in OER story
- #7: The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529499.pdf
- #8: About 2/3 of students borrow to get through school. These borrowers graduate with an average debt of … Include institution’s data – can be found at https://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data#overlay=posd/state_data/2017/oh
- #9: food insecurity is a real concern for many college students and for our own MSU students Students may have to make the choice between eating and textbooks This section is showing the impact that students’ financial situation have on their everyday lives. Food pantries are now becoming ubiquitous as students struggle to afford to live while paying for college. bearpantry@missouristate.edu ; 417-836-5774; PSU 131
- #10: Admit that it’s not the highest cost leading to these affordability issues – but it is: the one cost that we as faculty can impact it has a special impact on the academic success of students (as we’ll see later)
- #11: It may not seem that much, but sometimes it is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Especially if you struggle with food insecurity, have children/family, etc.
- #12: Florida Student Textbook survey Students are not learning if they are not reading the text Nearly 48% took fewer courses and 45% did not register for a specific course.
- #13: But there are more than cost benefits with OER Across 13 academic studies that attempted to measure results pertaining to student learning (higher ed: 15784 treatment, 99,692 control, k12: 1805 treatment 2439 control) none showed results in which students who utilized OER performed worse than their peers who used traditional textbooks.-If a student spends $1000/yr on textbooks and yet does not performs scholastically better than the student who utilizes free OER, what exactly is being purchased for $1000 2018 study large-scale study (21,822 students) indicate that OER adoption does much more than simply save students money and address student debt concerns. OER improve end-of-course grades and decrease DFW (D, F, and Withdrawal letter grades) rates for all students. They also improve course grades at greater rates and decrease DFW rates at greater rates for Pell recipient students, part-time students, and populations historically underserved by higher education. OER address affordability, completion, attainment gap concerns, and learning. These findings contribute to a broadening perception of the value of OERs and their relevance to the great challenges facing higher education today. US Public Interest Research Group
- #14: Quality- can correct immediate issues without having to wait until the next edition Control- customization of textbooks or other materials, move, remove or replace content/chapters Academic freedom- ability to adapt, update, remix OER. instead of the “need” or encouragement to follow the textbook Can set your own pace, your own resources. Open licenses put the control of eduation back in the hands of faculty, instructors, instructional designers, and even students. Faculty can even collaborate with other faculty teaching the same course Open pedagogy- engage students in new and innovative ways. Educators are now allowed to step back and see how students want to transform the information. This new imaginative, collaborative, and engaging educational experience can help transform teaching and learning for the better
- #15: Statistics professors who teach a 1000 level stats course edited this open textbook to align with their Excel-based course. They edited each chapter to add examples, instructions, and also wrote ~1000 multiple choice questions.
- #16: Students: Helps remove cost/financial roadblocks Access from Day 1 Same or better grades Lower drop rates Faculty: Freedom to revise, repurpose, reuse Can craft together chapters or information from multiple sources to meet learning objectives Can revise current OER with current research to provide most recent information Can share created materials with others Faculty and students can work together to co-create assignments and materials
- #18: Show OTN- Education books for ratings OASIS
- #21: First and foremost, you need to check the licensing on of the OER to make sure that it allows for derivatives. If it doesn’t then you cannot modify it. If you are combining OER, you do need to check to make sure that the licenses are compatible. We recommend seeking assistance from your very knowledgable librarians and instructional designers if you have any questions.
- #22: Only touch on these- future presentations will discuss this further
- #23: Evaluate- Open Textbook Network- could hold a workshop on evaluating