OER in Higher Education: Still on the Fringes

As a language educator and content developer I am often thinking about what pedagogical resources I can use in my own courses to support and enhance students’ learning. Sticking to the traditional textbook seems obsolete today, especially since the Internet has become ubiquitous and infinite digital learning and teaching materials can be found and used by educators on the web. An important question to consider is how we can use digital materials found on the Internet ethically, without infringing copyright regulations. Although it might seem that we can use whatever we find on the web and are able to download on our computer, in reality the majority of online resources do not allow individuals to utilize them just as they prefer. Learning about this restriction made me curious about whether there are resources that educators can use ethically in their courses and that is how I learned about open educational resources (OER). As an educator I have used OER in my language courses and have found that they can be a great addition to traditional pedagogical materials.

OER are teaching, learning, and research materials that are available either in the public-domain or with an open license, often called Creative Commons License, that allows users to engage in the 5R activities: retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. OER are available in various disciplines and are mostly created by educators for educators. What differentiates OER from other free materials is often the license. For instance, a university library might offer free-to-use materials to students by paying for a subscription but such materials are still copyrighted with all rights reserved. Instead, with OER, instructors can modify materials as they prefer to meet students’ learning needs and outcomes.

To dive deeper in the area of open education and OER I spoke with Cheryl Cuillier, the Open Education Librarian at the University of Arizona. Cheryl leads the University of Arizona Libraries’ OER initiatives, she is involved in national OER projects, and supports instructors with library-licensed e-books and streaming videos for their courses. I had the opportunity to meet with her to discuss the impact that OER have on students and how faculty are currently utilizing OER in higher education.

I first asked Cheryl how the use of OER affects students enrolled at universities in the United States. Cheryl began her response by briefly describing an important survey published in 2016 conducted by the Florida Virtual Campus institution which involved more than 22,000 students in Florida’s public colleges and universities. The survey aimed at investigating how the cost of required textbooks might have had an influence on students’ academic choices and success. In the survey, many participants reported that due to the cost of required materials they earned a poor grade, failed a course, took fewer courses, or withdrew from a course. Cheryl said that students should not be in a situation where they have to choose between purchasing the course textbook or buying food, and this is where OER come into play. OER support students by providing them with materials at no cost which can be used with flexibility and at any time.

Due to the financial costs of attending college, today students are in a concerning situation. I asked Cheryl what educators are doing to support students’ academic success through course materials. Are they using OER in their classes, or is this still a new approach that has yet to be implemented in higher education? Overall, at the University of Arizona as well as at other universities in the United States the percentage of professors and instructors using OER is still low. According to Cheryl, this might be due to the lack of awareness as well as the time that it takes to switch a course from a commercial textbook to OER. At the moment there is no central repository for higher education OER and some professors have difficulties in finding open resources. Cheryl, as the Open Education Librarian at the University of Arizona, directs instructors and professors to the Open Textbook Library which provides a growing catalog of free, peer-reviewed, and openly-licensed textbooks. Cheryl explained that some faculty have looked for OER, however they have not been able to find resources in their own content area but luckily the amount of open resources is growing thanks to funding from states and grants from libraries and universities which support the adoption, adaptation, and the creation of OER. Other faculty need ancillary materials along with course textbooks and in this case there have been collaborations with technology partners to offer affordable add-on products.

Cheryl explained that the University of Arizona is a member of the Open Textbook Network and there are indeed opportunities for teachers to implement OER in their courses, although it might look daunting at first. Cheryl reported that several studies have looked at the impact that OER have on learners, and findings show that students do as well or better in courses that use OER. To support and increase the use of OER in higher education, Cheryl suggested emphasizing the free cost, the customizability, and the opportunity to adapt resources to meet the specific needs of a class. Open pedagogy and students’ involvement in the creation of OER is another strategy that instructors can use to utilize open resources while also giving students opportunities to create materials that can be shared with the world. OER give faculty more academic freedom and choices which will support students’ academic success.

All in all I found Cheryl’s insights compelling and relevant to today’s academic landscape. OER can be a powerful tool to support students, nonetheless they are “still on the fringes” with many instructors and faculty unaware about such resources or unable to implement them in their own courses. As an educator myself I understand the struggles that one might encounter when choosing to use OER. For example, will OER have the same quality of traditional materials? Will OER be appropriate and valuable for my course and students? Where can I find peer-reviewed OER? These questions might look challenging at first but instructors and professors should not give up and seek help from librarians who in many cases know about open resources and will be able to provide support. Reaching out to other instructors who are currently using OER might also be a great strategy which can help the widespread support and use of open resources.

References

Florida Virtual Campus. (2016). 2016 Florida Student Textbook & Course Materials Survey. Tallahassee, FL. http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2016_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf