Open Education Resources bring to online learning the ability to customize each course by the sharing of knowledge through a collaborative effort. OER allows for a vast source of current and relevant learning capabilities while avoiding students paying for pricey and often limited textbooks.
In late 2022 we were introduced to the world of Open Education Resources (OER) by a Colleague. We were tasked with the redevelopment of one of our lower-level core courses. The course itself was on the principles of management. OER learning has been a major educational endeavor by my University for a few years. So, I was learning about the advantages of OER as I was redeveloping the course.
The key with OER is the initial word, “Open”. It is a gateway to an unlimited source of concepts, theories, and knowledge on just about any subject and discipline. Over the years we have found most textbooks to only contain about 20% of material relevant to the students’ taking courses. Yet, we often expect our students to buy a pricey textbook that will tend to collect dust.
Over the past five years our University has had a very active Textbook Affordability Program, whereby we monitor, track, and check the cost of course materials to the student. A number of higher education institutes also have dynamic programs in this area. (Textbook Affordability Program, 2023)
In order to meet the needs of the students combined with our university’s textbook affordability programs, we decided to focus on OER as an opportunity to meet both goals simultaneously. OER gives us an opportunity to focus on the 20% of knowledge in most courses that can benefit the students in their careers or in life. Bryant & Stratton College identified four Textbook Affordability Initiative Goals:
- Foster Student Success
- Increase Equitable Access
- Educate about OER
- Publish and Share OER
These are all lofty and meaningful goals. The key here is gaining access to a wealth of course material from many approved sources. For the introductory management course we had several Learning Outcomes that were required to be met (Learning Outcomes are utilized for student learning assessments and program reviews). It was our task to match these learning outcomes with appropriate and available open access material. As we approached the integration of OER into our management course, it was essential to create a step-by-step process that could be replicated if needed.
The starting point for developing OER material was to determine what resources were available through what platforms. There are few websites, such as OER Commons, that address OER learning. The process of simply determining the resources needed turned out to be lengthy and cumbersome, which also reinforced the idea that we needed a step-by-step process for other professors to follow were they to want to explore OER in their courses. One of the major contributions to this lessons learned report is the output of a how-to guide for integration of OER into courses.
When it came to the input of OER into the course structure, the main change that we made was eliminating the textbook and the chapters that were required to be read for each module. There was the age-old dilemma of our students actually reading these chapters. The redevelopment team use OER sources to identify and insert into each module 3-4 PDF files. These files contained material related to the topical areas of each module. As previously mentioned, it was a much more focused learning approach.
There was so much available material for each module. The problem then became selecting which material to insert into the modules. That was a good problem to have.
From end-of-course feedback from both students and faculty the use of OER learning in place of traditional printed or paid for resources has received very positive results. The introductory management course became a more interactive learning experience.
Besides the learning benefits to both students and faculty for using OER there are also financial advantages, especially to the students. Courses utilizing OER material can and usually do avoid the need to have students purchase pricey textbooks. While textbooks contain a good deal of information, they are often underutilized by the students
The most recent outputs from the aforementioned Textbook Affordability Program, April 2023 recognized a number of faculty throughout the University campuses for implementing OER material in place of costly textbooks. Based on the reporting by the Textbook Affordability Program, the partial savings in textbook costs to students in the 2022-2023 Academic Year was $850,000 University-wide. To date over the past five years the Program has been in operation the following results have been identified:
- Total Savings in Textbook Avoidance: $2,190,047
- Total Students Involved: 27,096
- Total Courses or Sections: 1,165
We have found that our use of the OER learning approach has allowed us to bring more current and relevant material into our courses. There is no shortage of excellent learning sources. These sources will continue to grow and stay current. This can provide us with the ability to modify courses more often, faster, and at a lower cost.
Note- The management course mentioned in this presentation and the team of OER developers were recognized as Honorable Mentions in this year’s Open Education Celebration. We are now looking forward to more OER opportunities in other courses.