Education Commons^™

Final Progress Report California Open Educational Resources Council, Katherine Harris

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Submitted to the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates December 1, 2015 (rev 4/15/16) Permalink: http://tinyurl.com/FPRCAOERC41516 Printable PDF Version: http://tinyurl.com/FPRCAOERC41516pdf See also CA-OERC White Paper: OER Adoption in College Classrooms

Oer Fellowship Seminars Syllabus, Cailean Cooney

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus originates from a faculty development program run by City Tech Library to support faculty to replace textbooks with no-cost open/alternative course materials.

White Paper: Oer Adoption Study: Using Open Educational Resources In The College Classroom, Katherine Harris, Committee Members California Oer Council

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Permalink for online version: http://tinyurl.com/WPOERAdoption040116Printable PDF version with Appendices: http://tinyurl.com/WPOERPrintVersion2Video Synopsis: https://youtu.be/vwVIrv0iSgE Signed into law in September 2012, SB 1052 (Steinberg, 2012) specified that the California Open Education Resources Council (“CA-OERC”) be established under the administration of the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (“ICAS”) of the University of California (“UC”), the California State University (“CSU”), and the California Community Colleges (“CCC”). CA-OERC was duly assembled and held its first meeting in January 2014. Representing 145 campuses across the three public systems of higher education, the CA-OERC initially set out to survey 10,000 UC, 24,000 CSU, 59,000 CCC full-time, …

The Secret Garden: Annotated With Reading Strategies, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Terence W. Cavanaugh

Elementary Level Resources

This book contains Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic "The Secret Garden" but has been enhanced with over 125 reading strategy experiences from over 45 areas to help guide readers with BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER reading strategies that students can practice with. Each chapter has multiple strategies embedded in the chapter to assist readers to read with purpose and become an active reader. Additional resources such as links to free audio versions and online tools are also provided along with suggestions on how to use your electronic book reader to improve your reading experience and access to information. This public domain story, …

Open Educational Resources: A Catalyst For Innovation, Dominic Orr, Michele Rimini, Dirk Van Damme

Concepts in Animal Parasitology Textbook

Foreword:

Open educational resources (OER) are rapidly becoming a major phenomenon in education across OECD countries and beyond. Initiated largely at the level of institutions by pioneers and technology advocates, the OER community has grown considerably over the past ten years and the impact of OER on educational systems has become an issue of public policy. The open education community is increasingly well organised and enjoys support from various institutions and foundations. National governments have developed, or are in the process of developing, open policies to support access to and use of OER.

It is the task of the OECD …

Open-Educational Resources (Oers) In The College Classroom: A Case Study, Judy O. Grissett, Charles Huffman

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Rising textbook costs are creating additional debt for college students and in some cases, are causing students to forgo purchasing a textbook (Mitchell, 2014). Open educational resources (OER), which are typically free or low-cost, have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional paper textbooks. In this study, we examined perceptions and effectiveness of an OER in an introductory psychology course at a small, public university in Georgia. We compared 1) perceptions of the type of textbook students were using (perceptions of OERs among students using an OER and traditional paper texts among students using traditional paper texts) and 2) course …

A Multi-Institutional Study Of The Impact Of Open Textbook Adoption On The Learning Outcomes Of Post-Secondary Students, Lane Fischer, John Hilton Iii, T. Jared Robinson, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

In some educational settings, the cost of textbooks approaches or even exceeds the cost of tuition. Given limited resources, it is important to better understand the impacts of free open educational resources (OER) on student outcomes. Utilizing digital resources such as OER can substantially reduce costs for students. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the adoption of no-cost open digital textbooks significantly predicted students’ completion of courses, class achievement, and enrollment intensity during and after semesters in which OER were used. This study utilized a quantitative quasi-experimental design with propensity-score matched groups to examine differences in outcomes …

Student Perceptions: Teaching And Learning With Open Educational Resources, Janet L. Rowell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze factors that may contribute to student perceptions of courses using Open Educational Resources (OER). Specifically, the 6 independent variables tested were the course discipline, age, gender, course delivery mode, enrollment status, and number of credit hours taken. The dependent variables were measured as mean scores of 6 OER perception dimensions: motivation to learn, quality of learning experience, value of OER, cognitive learning, affective learning, and course quality. A 27-item online survey was administered to gather data from students enrolled in a course that used OER in the fall semester, 2014. There was …

The Effects Of Open Educational Resource Adoption On Measures Of Post-Secondary Student Success, Thomas J. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the adoption of Open Educational Resources had a significant effect on student learning outcomes in seven courses taught at seven post-secondary institutions. The use of open educational resources (OER) is increasing in the United States. Initiatives focusing on expanding the use of OER as a replacement for traditional textbooks at the post-secondary level include OpenStax, Project Kaleidoscope, Open Course Library, and others. While researchers have begun to explore OER, few have sought to evaluate the quality of OER as a function of student academic success. In this dissertation, I examined measures …

Open Educational Resources @ Butler University: Gateway To Access And Advocacy In Open Education, Andrew Welp, Franny Gaede

Scholarship and Professional Work

This session reports on the progress of the Open Education Resources @ Butler University web portal. The portal was designed with 2 goals: (1) to provide a platform for the advocacy of OERs and (2) to provide an extensive list of resources with consideration given to their integration among departmental introductory courses at Butler. This project explicates a role academic libraries can play in Open Education.

“If You Build It, They Will Use: Creating And Sharing Open Educational Resources To Advance Information Literacy”, Philip Russell

Conference Papers

Since 2010, the library at the Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT Dublin) in South County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, has been developing a suite of interactive online information literacy tutorials covering research, referencing, plagiarism and core academic skills. These open educational resources (OERs) provide users with a vibrant, challenging learning environment and facilitate flexible, 24/7, independent learning. The learning objects are accessible via multiple delivery platforms and are available for reuse under Creative Commons licence via national and international teaching and learning repositories.

This paper outlines the development of these OERs and how the creation of these learning tools has …

Creating And Sharing Information Literacy Open Educational Resources, Philip Russell

Conference Papers

From June 2010 until the present, a suite of online reusable learning objects (RLOs) has been created at the Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT Dublin) library covering a range of information literacy (IL) competencies. These RLOs have helped to facilitate student transition from second to third level, advance IL and enrich the student learning experience. The paper outlines the development of these resources, how these learning objects have been integrated into academic modules at ITT Dublin and how they have been shared and reused as open educational resources at national and international level. The author also discusses future plans for …

Textbook Cost-Lowering Initiatives: An Exploration Of Community College Faculty Experiences, Susan Dunn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Faculty have been identified as critical players in the implementation of textbook affordability efforts at community colleges. Furthermore, emerging lower-cost alternatives to traditional textbooks present a wide and growing range of options that may help further efforts. This study sought to examine more closely the role of faculty with respect to textbook cost-lowering initiatives. The researcher utilized in-depth interviews to gain a rich picture of the experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of nine full-time community college faculty as they confronted textbook affordability efforts and textbook alternatives. The interview data were analyzed using a thematic analysis process. Five major themes and …

A Diachronic Overview Of Mobile Learning: A Shift Toward Student-Centered Pedagogies, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This chapter provides a brief historical overview of the technology contributing to mobile learning (mLearning) and the concomitant progression towards student-centred pedagogies. To begin, mLearning is defined. The theoretical, pedagogical and conceptual underpinnings of it are then explained, with a focus on the technologies and the pedagogies of each decade, from the 1970s and Kay’s futuristic vision of a mobile learning device, to today’s mobile learning technologies that have surpassed Kay’s vision.

Orchestrating Communities, Ubiquities, Time And Space: International Experiences In The Use Of Educational Technology, Ivan Jorrín Abellán, Jose Correa

Ivan M. Jorrín Abellán

In this brief introduction we frame the special issue on “Orchestrating communities, ubicuity, time and space: International experiences in the use of educational technology.“ It constitutes the result of the “International experiences in the use of Educational Technology” panel session celebrated within the XXI University Conference on Educational Technology (XXI Jornadas Universitarias de Tecnología Educativa) (JUTE) in Valladolid, Spain in 2013. Every article has gone through a double-blind peer review process with the aim of ensuring not only the quality of the issue but also the adaptation of the initial presentations given in the aforementioned panel session to the rules …

Open Educational Resources For All? Comparing User Motivations And Characteristics Across The Open University’Situnes U Channel And Openlearn Platform, Ugur Demiray

Ugur Demiray

The conference programme reflects something of the sense of disruption that is steadily seeping into the pores of the higher education institutions of Europe. With that not terribly attractive acronym ‘MOOCs’ ringing in our ears (I much prefer the Spanish equivalent COMA, which rolls of the tongue with rather more grace), we might just be on the cusp of a period that will challenge ways of being and doing in universities that have remained remarkably stable for so long. And if we are at the beginning of a period of disruption, what does that mean for the special concerns of …

The Adoption Of Open Educational Resources By One Community College Math Department, John Hilton Iii, Donna Gaudet, Phil Clark, Jared Robinson, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on one community college’s adoption of a collection of open resources across five different mathematics classes. During the 2012 fall semester, 2,043 students in five different courses used these open access resources. We present a comparison between the previous two years in terms of the number of students who withdrew from the courses and the number that completed the courses with a …

One College's Use Of An Open Psychology Textbook, John Hilton Iii

Faculty Publications

The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on one community college's adoption of a free online psychology textbook. During the fall semester, 2011, 690 students used this book. Compared to students using a traditional text in the spring of 2011, students who used the free online textbook scored higher on departmental final exams, had higher GPAs in the class and higher retention rates.

A Model Of Digital Textbook Quality From The Perspective Of College Students, Tj Bliss

Theses and Dissertations

The cost of textbooks is a financial burden on many college students. Fortunately the advent of open educational resources (OER) has allowed for the development of textbooks and other materials at significantly reduced costs to students. Many faculty are using OER to develop customized textbooks for their students, usually published digitally online. These faculty desire high fidelity feedback from their students to help them improve their texts. However, there is no general model of what digital textbook quality means to college students. Such a model would allow for the development of a measure of digital textbook quality that could provide …

Making Higher Education More Affordable, One Course Reading At A Time: Academic Libraries As Key Advocates For Open Access Textbooks And Educational Resources, Karen Okamoto

Publications and Research

Open access textbooks (OATs) and educational resources (OERs) are being lauded as a viable alternative to costly print textbooks. Some academic libraries are joining the OER movement by creating guides to open repositories. Others are promoting OATs and OERs, reviewing them, and even helping to create them. This article analyzes how academic libraries are currently engaged in open access textbook and OER initiatives. By drawing on examples of library initiatives across the United States, the author illustrates how libraries are facilitating the adoption and implementation of these affordable resources.

When The Virtual Meets The Real: An Assessment Of The Benefits And "Costs" Of Open Access Texts For First Year Writing Courses At Cuny, Johannah Rodgers

Publications and Research

An assessment of the advantages, drawbacks, and costs of Open Access / OER texts for First Year Writing courses at CUNY.

Textbook Bling: An Evaluation Of Textbook Quality And Usability In Open Educational Resources Versus Traditionally Published Textbooks, Jennifer Lynn Price

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study evaluated quality, usage, and perceptions of open educational resources compared to traditionally published textbooks. Because textbooks and other related materials make up a significant portion of educational costs, open educational resources have been explored for potential cost savings at all levels of education. These resources use public domain or open-licensed materials as the content component of free eTextbooks or low-cost printed textbooks. This evaluation explores how teachers and students use textbook resources both in and out of the classroom and the degree to which the content and design of open textbooks compares in quality and value to …

A Preliminary Examination Of The Cost Savings And Learning Impacts Of Using Open Textbooks In Middle And High School Science Classes, John Hilton Iii, David Wiley, Shelley Ellington, Tiffany Hall

Faculty Publications

Proponents of open educational resources claim that significant cost savings are possible when open textbooks displace traditional textbooks in the classroom. Over a period of two years, we worked with 20 middle and high school science teachers (collectively teaching approximately 3,900 students) who adopted open textbooks to understand the process and determine the overall cost of such an adoption. The teachers deployed open textbooks in multiple ways. Some of these methods cost more than traditional textbooks; however, we did identify and implement a successful model of open textbook adoption that reduces costs by over 50% compared to the cost of …

Examining The Reuse Of Open Textbooks, John Hilton Iii, David A. Wiley, Neil Lutz

Faculty Publications

An important element of open educational resources (OER) is the permission to use the materials in new ways, including revising and remixing them. Prior research has shown that the revision and remix rates for OER are relatively low. In this study we examined the extent to which the openly licensed Flat World Knowledge textbooks were being revised and remixed. We found that the levels of revision and remix were similar to those of other OER collections. We discuss the possible significance and implication of these findings.

The Role Of Business Agreements In Defining Textbook Affordability And Digital Materials: A Document Analysis, John Raible, Aimee Denoyelles

Higher Learning Research Communications

Adopting digital materials such as eTextbooks and e-coursepacks is a potential strategy to address textbook affordability in the United States. However, university business relationships with bookstore vendors implicitly structure which instructional resources are available and in what manner. In this study, a document analysis was conducted on the bookstore contracts for the universities included in the State University System of Florida. Namely, issues of textbook affordability, digital material terminology and seller exclusivity were investigated. It was found that textbook affordability was generally conceived in terms of print rental textbooks and buyback programs, and that eTextbooks were priced higher than print …

Open-Access Textbooks And Financial Sustainability: A Case Study On Flat World Knowledge, John Hilton Iii, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

Many college students and their families are concerned about the high costs of textbooks. A company called Flat World Knowledge both gives away and sells open-source textbooks in a way it believes to be financially sustainable. This article reports on the financial sustainability of the Flat World Knowledge open-source textbook model after one year of operation.

A Sustainable Model For Opencourseware Development, Justin Johansen, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

The purposes of this study were to (a) determine the cost of converting BYU Independent Study’s e-learning courses into OpenCourseWare, (b) assess the impact of opening those courses on paid enrollment in the credit-bearing versions of the courses, and (c) use these data to judge whether or not an OpenCourseWare program could be financially self-sustaining over the long-term without grant monies or other subsidies. The findings strongly suggest that the BYU Independent Study model of publishing OpenCourseWare is financially self-sustaining, allowing the institution to provide a significant public good while generating new revenue and meeting its ongoing financial obligations.

Freely Ye Have Received, Freely Give (Matthew 10:8): How Giving Away Religious Digital Books Influences The Print Sales Of Those Books, John L. Hilton Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Lack of access prevents many from benefiting from educational resources. Digital technologies now enable educational resources, such as books, to be openly available to those with access to the Internet. This study examined the financial viability of a religious publisher's putting free digital versions of eight of its books on the Internet. The total cost of putting these books online was $940.00. Over a 10-week period these books were downloaded 102,256 times and print sales of these books increased 26%. Comparisons with historical book sales and sales of comparable titles suggest a positive but modest connection between this increase and …

Free: Why Authors Are Giving Books Away On The Internet, John L. Hilton Iii, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

With increasing frequency, authors in academic and non-academic fields are releasing their books for free digital distribution. Anecdotal evidence suggests that exposure to both authors and books increases when books are available as free downloads, and that print sales are not negatively affected. For this study we interviewed ten authors to determine their perceptions of the effect free digital distribution has on the impact and sales of their work. In addition, we examined the sales data of two books over a two year period of time, in which one book was freely available for the second year. All of the …

The Four R’S Of Openness And Alms Analysis: Frameworks For Open Educational Resources, John L. Hilton Iii, Aaron Johnson, Jared Stein, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

A significant movement in education concerns the use of open educational resources. By "open" it is generally meant that the resource is available at no cost to others for adaptation and reuse in different contexts. However "open" is not a simple dichotomy; rather, there is a continuum of openness. We discuss four separate aspects of reuse and demonstrate how these describe different levels of openness. We discuss how the licensing and technical aspects of open educational resources affect the relative openness of an OER. Implications for those creating open educational resources are discussed.