Finding a Balance: Evaluating the Use of OER in Community College Education

Finding a Balance: Evaluating the Use of OER in Community College Education

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  Finding a Balance Evaluatingthe Use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Community College Education January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  A note aboutthe author • My name is Zoe Fisher and I’m an instructional designer at Pierce College in Lakewood, Washington. • Before becoming an instructional designer, I was an information literacy librarian. • I am passionate about community colleges, libraries, and student learning assessment. • You can find me online at http://www.quickaskzoe.com. January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  What are somebenefits to using Open Educational Resources (OER)? • Freedom to choose how to teach your class • Cost savings to students • Join a community of peers to develop meaningful materials • Use inclusive materials that reflect your learners & their experiences • Boost student retention & success January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Freedom to choosehow to teach your class • Be free from the tyranny of textbooks! • With OER, you can mix and match to select materials that best meet your needs • You are no longer tied to the structure, language, and assessments found in commercially-published textbooks January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Cost savings tostudents • The College Board estimates that community college students spend about $1,400 each year on books and supplies. (Source: “Average Estimated Undergraduate Budgets, 2017-2018”) • Students are faced with the choice of buying books or affording necessities like food, transportation, and utilities. • Students save big when instructors adopt openly-licensed educational materials. • Pierce College’s Open Pathways Program has saved students $1 million in textbook costs since 2015. (Source: “Pierce College program saves students $1 million in textbook costs”) January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Join a communityof peers to develop meaningful materials • Faculty can work collaboratively across institutions to develop educational materials • This is a wonderful opportunity for professional development and inter-institution collaboration • There is no pressure to be the only expert! Peer review can improve materials • Instructional designers and librarians can help faculty curate course materials that match learning objectives January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Use inclusive materialsthat reflect your learners & their experiences • Commercially-published textbooks often reflect a white and Euro- centric points of view • Community college learners have a wide array of experiences which should be reflected in their educational materials • OER can be modified and adapted to suit your learning context • Learners can help you identify gaps in materials and develop additional content • For example, a US History resource that focuses exclusively on the experiences of white settlers could be modified to include content from the perspective of Indigenous peoples. January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Boost student retention& success • Faculty know that students learn more when they study • Students are more likely to study and learn when course materials are affordable and easy to access • A 2015 study found that students in courses using OER fared just as well as students in class using commercially-published textbooks— and they were more likely to enroll in more credits the next term. (Source: “A multi-institutional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students”) January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  What are somedrawbacks and challenges with using OER? • Time • Investment in labor • Quality of available materials • Accessibility • Redesigning courses, programs, and degrees January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Time • Many instructorsdo not have the time to research available OER materials • Once materials are identified, instructors need to evaluate them and determine whether or not they are a good fit • If usable materials are identified, instructors may need to redesign their course and assessments to fit the new OER materials January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Investment in labor •Fully adopting OER requires a significant institutional investment in the labor required to do the work • With tight budgets, institutions may struggle to find resources to pay for the labor required to adopt OER • Institutions with large-scale OER programs and no-textbook degrees often have multiple positions devoted to OER adoption (OER librarians, instructional designers, educational technology specialists, project managers, and faculty experts, to name a few) January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Quality of availablematerials • Not all OER are created equal • There are huge disparities in the quality of available materials—some textbooks are great, some are not • Low-quality materials can discourage instructors from adopting any OER materials • OER materials may be perceived as untrustworthy January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Accessibility • This relatesto quality, but there is no guarantee of accessibility with OER materials • For example, a faculty may find a great openly-licensed video they want to integrate into their course—but it’s not captioned. • Written OER materials may not be compatible with screen reader software, and so on. • Testing for accessibility, and modifying OER for accessibility, adds to the labor required for adoption. January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Redesigning courses, programs,and degrees • The impact of adopting OER materials stretches far beyond single courses. • Departments may be committed to commercially-published textbooks to achieve program-level learning outcomes. • Without those textbooks as a roadmap for courses and learning outcomes, faculty may need to re-adjust course learning outcomes and even program outcomes. • Many colleges have the goal of designing degrees supported entirely by OER—a huge under-taking! • The scope of this work can be daunting. January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  Conclusion • It’s okayto be overwhelmed! • Adopting OER takes a lot of work. • There are many benefits to students and faculty when OER are used. • The key is to find institutional support for the investment in labor required to adopt OER. January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College [email protected]
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  This presentation wascreated in satisfaction of the OER 101 course requirements. For more information about professional development available through SBCTC, visit the site below: https://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/programs-services/elearning-open-education/elearning- professional-development.aspx January 2018 Zoe Fisher – Pierce College 16