Education Commons^™

Value Beyond Cost Savings: Unlocking Diversity, Equity And Inclusion With Open Educational Resources, Nancy Henke

Libraries Workshops & Webinars

The cost savings offered by the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) have garnered significant attention. As free teaching, learning, and research materials, OER reduce financial barriers to education by eliminating textbook costs. However, fewer people are aware that OER also contribute to a more inclusive learning environment. This session explores the value of OER beyond financial benefits, delving into how OER, as free and accessible resources, play a role in building an inclusive educational landscape. From embracing diverse perspectives in content creation to providing the opportunity to tailor course materials to students’ specific needs, this presentation uncovers the many …

Investing In Textbook Affordability Pays Off For Students, Janelle Wertzberger

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Investing in textbook affordability can have a huge payoff for students—just ask Assistant Professors Alice Brawley Newlin and Marta Maras in the Management department. Their open, customized textbook for Statistical Methods (MGT 235) is completely free. It has been used by over 400 students and saved them an estimated $150,000! The story of how this remarkable outcome was achieved has its origins in Musselman Library. [excerpt]

2022 Gettysburg College Textbook Survey Full Report, Mary R. Elmquist, Janelle Wertzberger

All Musselman Library Staff Works

In Fall 2022, Musselman Library conducted its second course materials survey, this time in collaboration with 10 other liberal arts colleges from around the country. This report compiles the results from Gettysburg College participants' responses. Comparisons are also made to the results from Gettysburg's 2019 survey and the larger group of colleges.

Oa And Oer In Education And The Knowledge Market: Presentation And Workshop Materials, Jillian Beckwell

Honors Projects

Are you interested in being able to access reliable information, research, images, and more online without running into a paywall or fee? Are you interested in accessing online textbooks and other class materials without having to spend a single dollar? With Open Access and Open Educational Resources, these scenarios are possible. This presentation will discuss Open Access materials and Open Educational Resources, and their role in educational spaces and within the different Knowledge Market services.

Diamonds Down Your Sofa, Aisling Coyne, Yvonne Desmond, John Donovan

Other

Every RPO has or should have an institutional repository. As a showcase for what you do especially outputs that are not suitable for publication, they are hard to beat but how many of us extract the full value from them? How many of us treat them as electronic warehouses and never look at them again? In short, how many of us have no idea of how much really know? Repositories store so much more than just full-text articles, they are used to catalogue everything from artworks to zoom logs and everything in between and that breadth represents hidden but real …

Affordable Learning Kentucky: Strategies For Affordability And Success, Kelly Smith, Cristen Ross, Lori Werth, Ilona Burdette

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Kentucky Virtual Library’s Affordable Learning Steering Committee, an initiative of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), is a working group of librarians from universities around Kentucky exploring ways to advance Kentucky in the Open Educational Resource (OER) / Affordable Textbook movement.

The panel presentation included an overview of their work to date and a discussion with the audience about Kentucky’s needs and strategies related to affordable courseware for students on topics including working with campus bookstores, adding course resources to library collections, using e-reserves dynamically, promoting faculty use and creation of open content, and campus textbook initiatives.

Panelists included …

Textbook Remix: An Introduction To Libretexts For Oer Editing, Mary Elmquist, Alice M. Brawley Newlin

All Musselman Library Staff Works

So, you’ve found an open textbook that you really like, but it’s not quite right for your class? LibreTexts might be the answer! Join us for this informal webinar to learn a little more about this online platform designed for customizing and distributing open textbooks. From Gettysburg College, Scholarly Communications Librarian Mary Elmquist will provide an introduction to the platform, its structure and features, and Dr. Alice Brawley Newlin, Assistant Professor of Management, will speak on her ongoing experiences using LibreTexts to edit and implement an open textbook for a Statistical Methods course.

This session should provide insight for both …

Inequitable Impacts Of Textbook Costs At A Small, Private College: Results From A Textbook Survey At Gettysburg College, Sarah Appedu, Mary Elmquist, Janelle Wertzberger, Sharon K. Birch

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Recognizing that higher education settings vary considerably, librarians at Gettysburg College sought to better understand textbook spending behaviors and the effects of costs on our students. We adapted the Florida Virtual Campus 2016 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey to suit the context of our small, private, liberal arts college. Most students spent $300 in Fall 2019. Financial aid awards did not cover the cost of required books and course materials for most students receiving aid. Negative effects were more pronounced for first-generation students and Pell Grant recipients, who were more likely to not purchase required books, to not register …

Faculty And Student Perspectives On Open Education At Gettysburg College, Mary R. Elmquist, Janelle Wertzberger, Alice M. Brawley Newlin, Natasha J. Gownaris, Christopher C. Oechler, Ryan E. Nedrow

Friday Forum

Commercially available textbooks and course materials are often expensive for students and sometimes don’t cover topics in exactly the way you might prefer to teach. Freely available and completely adaptable open educational resources (OER) have risen in popularity in recent years, both nationwide and locally, as a way to address both issues. Join us to hear from Alice Brawley Newlin (Management), Tasha Gownaris (Environmental Studies), Chris Oechler (Spanish), and Ryan Nedrow ’22 to hear about their experiences with OER in the classroom. Panelists will talk honestly about the benefits, drawbacks, challenges, and successes associated with open course materials in order …

No Textbook Cost General Education Pathway: An Effort To Increase Retention At Central Washington University, Maura Valentino, Geri Hopkins

Library Scholarship

Purpose

This study aims to describe a project that aims to give students a choice to complete their general education requirements without purchasing a textbook.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 26 faculty, teaching in the new general education curriculum, at Central Washington University were given stipends to eliminate expensive textbooks and use free to the student resources such as open educational resources (OER) or library resources. The data was collected on student savings and student and faculty satisfaction with the program.

Findings

Many paths were created through the general education curriculum, so a student may easily finish these requirements without purchasing a …

Results From A Psychology Oer Pilot Program: Faculty And Student Perceptions, Cost Savings, And Academic Outcomes, Juliana Magro, Sara V. Tabaei

Touro College Libraries Publications and Research

This case study describes the library’s experience of collaborating with an undergraduate Psychology Department at Touro College to integrate open textbooks into their program. We discuss the pedagogical changes as well as explore the impact of Open Educational Resources (OER) on students’ savings, their academic outcomes and perceptions of OER. Furthermore, we highlight the successes and shortcomings in having the library as a central OER partner. To measure the results, we surveyed students and conducted a faculty survey and a focus group, in addition to analyzing the students’ final grades. This pilot program delivered strong results. The students’ perception was …

Choose Your Own Initiative: Exploring The Landscape Of Oer And Textbook Affordability Programs, Matt Ruen, Jacklyn A. Rander, Janelle Yahne

Presentations

Congratulations! Your college or university is ready to plan (or maybe expand!) a campus-wide initiative focused on Open Educational Resources or other textbook alternatives. But OER and affordability programs vary widely in scope, funding, and strategies, described in articles, book chapters, and news stories. At Grand Valley State University, library OER supporters faced this situation when our faculty senate established a task force to identify university-wide strategies for OER and affordable course materials. To help this task force hit the ground running, we surveyed the landscape of programs at other institutions, identified organizations actively engaged in OER work, and selected …

Oer & Textbook Affordability Initiatives: An Introduction, Janelle Yahne, Jacklyn A. Rander, Matt Ruen

Library Reports and Communication

An overview of initiatives and programs supporting the use and creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) or other Affordable Course Materials at higher education institutions. The report also identifies relevant organizations, addresses related issues in higher education and the textbook industry, and provides further readings and resources on OER.

This was originally assembled as background and reference materials for the 2018-2019 University Academic Senate Task Force on Open Educational Resources and Affordable Course Materials, at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, Michigan). It was subsequently revised and expanded in Summer 2019. The report focuses primarily on the Michigan context, and is …

How Much Do You Spend?: Textbook Affordability At Gettysburg College, Mary R. Elmquist

All Musselman Library Staff Works

This poster, created for Musselman Library's Charting your Course 2019 first-year orientation activity, explains some of the strategies that Gettysburg College students can use to mitigate the impacts of rising textbook costs.

Report Of 2018-2019 Open Educational Resources & Affordable Course Materials Task Force, Thomas Pentecost, Annie Bélanger, Lihua Huang, Charles Lowe, Erin Mcintosh, Matt Ruen, Eric Szczepaniak

Library Reports and Communication

The University Academic Senate charged the OER/ACM Task Force to:

1. Explore current GVSU practices involving course material decisions.
2. Recommend strategies to recognize existing OER/ACM use by GVSU faculty.
3. Recommend strategies to increase use of existing OER/ACM services and support.
4. Recommend new initiatives or support to increase OER/ACM adoption by GVSU faculty.

This report fulfills these charges, providing information on the context of textbook usage at GVSU and delivering recommendations and possibilities for expanded OER/ACM support.

Open Educational Resources And Research Data Management: A Very Brief Overview, Adrian K. Ho

Library Presentations

This is a brief overview of open educational resources and research data management. It also addresses the increasing importance of these services in academic and research libraries.

Open Access Institutional Repository: Maximizing Future Returns On Investment, Larry R. Sheret, Jingping Zhang

Jingping Zhang

Final Portfolio - Sparc Open Education Leadership Program, 2017-18, Christopher A. Barnes

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Final portfolio of work completed for the SPARC Open Education Leadership Program, 2017-18, including the Capstone Project Final Report, the Community Resource entitled “Piloting Faculty OER Grant Programs: A Practical Guide for Librarians,” and the blog Opening Up Liberal Arts Colleges (linked). “Piloting Faculty OER Grant Programs" is also available separately in The Cupola.

Nebraska Acrl Scholarly Communication Roadshow Sharing Session, Catherine Fraser Riehle, Linnea Fredrickson, Margaret Mering

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Conference Presentations and Speeches

The session includes a report about the 2017 Nebraska ACRL [Association of College and Research Libraries] Scholarly Communication Roadshow that was held July 12, 2017, on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) campus. The presenters share key takeaways from each of three main program segments, which focused on (1) open education, (2) copyright, and (3) research metrics and author identifiers (e.g., ORCID). The session includes updates about (1) open education–related initiatives at UNL, including the UNL Libraries’ efforts to partner with other units on campus to increase awareness and integration of OERs in curricula; (2) selected copyright issues and continuing education …

Customize Your Course Content With Open Educational Resources, Janelle Wertzberger

Janelle Wertzberger

This half day workshop provides an overview of the current open textbook and OER landscape, including information about copyright, fair use, open licensing, strategies for identifying open content, and models for compiling open content for class use. We will also devote time to hands-on exploration of existing open resources that could be used in your course or discipline. If you have been thinking about reworking your required readings and are leaning toward more open materials, this workshop is the perfect time to explore the possibilities. You will get the most out of this workshop if you come with a specific …

Customize Your Course Content With Open Educational Resources, Janelle Wertzberger

All Musselman Library Staff Works

This half day workshop provides an overview of the current open textbook and OER landscape, including information about copyright, fair use, open licensing, strategies for identifying open content, and models for compiling open content for class use. We will also devote time to hands-on exploration of existing open resources that could be used in your course or discipline. If you have been thinking about reworking your required readings and are leaning toward more open materials, this workshop is the perfect time to explore the possibilities. You will get the most out of this workshop if you come with a specific …

The University Of New Hampshire Open Educational Resources Survey, Tracy Keirns, Sean P. Mckinley

Open Educational Resources

The University of New Hampshire Survey Center conducted a survey of UNH faculty members about their usage, understanding, and needs from the University's Open Educational Resources (OER) program. An email invitation to complete the internet survey was sent to one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight (1,888) UNH faculty members in March 2017. Overall, 437 faculty members responded to the survey, yielding a response rate of 23%. This report includes figures summarizing the survey results; detailed tabular results may be found in Appendix A, Appendix B contains the open-ended responses, and Appendix C contains the survey instrument.