Curious about Open Educational Resources, but not sure where to start? Or, have you tried to implement Open Educational Resources into your courses but have not had success (or cannot find what you are looking for)? If either of these describe you, keep reading!
Before getting into my own experiences using Open Educational Resources and suggestions for folks who may be struggling, it might be best to start at the beginning...
What are Open Educational Resources and why should I use them?
According to the publication, EdWeek, Open Educational Resources (or OERs) are materials for teaching and learning that are either in the public domain or have been released under a license that allows them to be freely used, changed, or shared with others. OERs may include a single reading, video, or activity, a full textbook or course pack, and even the online platforms necessary to change, create, and share the materials with your learners and colleagues.
Why should you use them? From my perspective, the #1 reason to integrate OER into your classroom is the cost saving for students. OERs are FREE for students and help to alleviate some of the financial burdens of high textbook costs (according to this article an average of $415 per semester). There are also a wide variety of OERs (especially in certain disciplines like Math and Science) in a variety of formats (web-based, downloadable chapters, videos, etc...). Additionally, the ability to mix-and-match OERs to fit your needs creates a unique, curated educational experience for your learners.
For a summary of the basics of OERs, please view the infographic below (and feel free to download, save, remix, and use for your own needs!)
Why (and how) Did I Start Using OERs?
Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash
I currently teach at a community college on the East Coast. The cost of living (housing, groceries, transportation) is, well, almost unbelievable. I regularly had students asking me during the first few weeks of the semester if I could scan the textbook chapters for them or if they could get an extension to get caught up because they couldn't afford to purchase the textbook or reader for the class. I found this frustrating (not frustration at the students, but frustration that the books that I was using were out-of-reach for some of my students), so I started thinking about what I could do to change that.
I will be completely honest- I had NEVER heard of OER (I was definitely out of the loop). Having recently graduated from a highly-selective R-1 where the undergraduate student body was disproportionately upper middle class, there wasn't a whole lot of discussion about textbook affordability or decreasing course costs for students (at least not that I was a part of). The first thing that I did was go to Google and type in "affordable Sociology textbooks," or "low-cost Introduction to Sociology," or something similar. This is how I found out about OERs.
I started by implementing a full OER textbook (click here for the one that I use). This enabled me to integrate OER into the course in a way that was manageable for me. The book was set up in the same way that a standard introductory-level text was and did not require me to make significant overall changes to the course. In fact, I found I could still use my lecture materials and many of the same assessments that I was using before, given the similarities between different freshman-level survey course texts. Another great thing about this particular text was that it had multiple download and viewing options, so it was accessible for diverse learners.
After using the OER textbook, I felt empowered to see if I could implement OERs into my other courses. Now, this is where things got a bit more complicated.
There are not as many available OER textbooks for my discipline, and I struggled to find materials that I could implement as easily. However, I found ways to locate available OERs and supplement them with additional material (videos, articles, etc....). To be clear, this is much more work than finding an available OER that comes complete with a full course pack (I know in some disciplines they have instructor materials similar to what would be provided by the publisher of the, ahem, over-priced textbooks). However, once I was familiar with OER materials and where to find them, this process was much easier.
I have now implemented completely free OER materials in 4 courses that I teach regularly and have identified "low-cost" (under $40) materials for all of the other courses. Overall, I am glad that I made the switch. However, there are a couple of caveats to consider:
Students do not always like having to read things digitally. I tell them that they are more than welcome to download a version of the chapter or article and print it out, but this can become costly for a full semesters' worth of materials. This is a trade-off to using OERs: they are free, but for students who want a physical copy to read, they will have to work to achieve this on their own.
OER materials are not always the same quality as materials put out by traditional publishers. (I cannot speak for all disciplines, so I am referring to Sociology OERs here). I will discuss what to do for a situation like this in the next section.
Some potential good news related to point #2 above: OpenStax (one of, if not the largest producer of OERs) has received a $12.5 million grant and plans to double its current catalog (read more here).
Source: OpenStax
For those of us in disciplines with scant OERs, this is some (potentially) great news!
Integrating OERs: Two Scenarios and Tips
So, let's say I have convinced to you try OERs in your class. You might run into one of the following scenarios:
OER textbook is available, but it is not quite up to your standards; or,
No OER is available or, it is available but.........well........BAD.
What can you do?
Scenario #1: OER Available, but Needs Work
If you find an OER textbook that could work for your class, but you do not feel it is up to the standards that you have set for your curriculum, my recommendation would be to supplement the OER with your own lecture materials.
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
For example, you are likely already creating some form of lecture materials in your LMS (learning management system) since many of us have gone remote/online due to COVID-19. You can use the lecture materials to provide updated examples, additional terms, concepts, or theories, or link or create video content. (Need advice on how to create educational videos for your classes? Read this post!)
This not only provides a higher equality educational experience for your students, but it provides a mechanism for you to create a strong instructor presence in your online or remote classroom. Although many of us are (or will be) returning to traditional, in-person learning, you could still assign these lecture materials as supplemental and/or required reading each week. Given that our students have been learning online/remotely for the last year, they should be more familiar with engaging with course material on the LMS.
Scenario #2: No OERs or Unusable OERs
Listen, I am going to be real with you: this situation can happen. In fact, it happened to me. I was searching for OERs for a course and came across something (I am not going to list the class or "out" the creator). I was excited, as it was a full textbook, much like I had been using for my introductory courses. When I quickly perused it, I thought there was quite a bit of unbroken text, which could be challenging for students. However, I bookmarked it as a possibility. When I came back to look through it more carefully, the combination of poor formatting, outdated information, and some of the worst graphics I had ever seen meant that it was not a feasible option. A lot of people in my situation might have given up (which is completely understandable), but I was determined to find OER for this course. What did I do?
I did it myself.
Option #1: DIY
Photo by Nikhil Mitra on Unsplash
Create the materials yourself! In many ways, this is simply an expanded version of what you could do under scenario #1. Materials can include:
Written lecture materials
Videos (Ted Talks, documentaries available online, lectures/presentations, or videos you create)
Graphs, charts, images (again, you can create these or find them online
If you do choose to utilize online images, be mindful of not only the source of the images, but the content as well. For example, you can use open source image sites like Pixabay and Unsplash. If you are interested in including more diversity in your images, you might consider a source like The Gender Spectrum Collection, which has stock images of transgender and non-binary folks. Another great thing about the Gender Spectrum Collection is that the images come pre-captioned for you!
Option #2: Think Outside the Box of What an OER Can Be:
Many of us are at institutions that have wide access to academic journals, periodicals, and other information sources that can be linked via the library website and downloaded by students. This might include:
Downloadable book chapters, academic articles, or report summaries
News articles and popular publications (with supplemental analysis from you!)
Interviews with scholars about their work
What each institution has access to may vary; however, all academic institutions have some library databases that provide free options for students. Again, this can take some digging and planning, but is a unique way to incorporate OERs into your content. It is also a great way to introduce your students to diverse viewpoints and perspectives on the issues you cover in class!
A final tip, as you search for OERs, you will need to determine whether or not they are appropriate for your course. There are multiple ways to do this (a quick Internet search will likely result in multiple rubrics for evaluating the quality of OERs). However, I have taken the guesswork (and extra searching time) out of this for you by creating a detailed rubric to evaluate OERs. To access this resource, please click the links below and download. (I have included a PDF and fillable Word document version for your convenience!)
Hopefully by outlining what OERs are, where to find them, how to evaluate them, and some possible scenarios and difficulties you may encounter, someone reading this has been inspired to implement OERs into their courses. And, maybe, even become an advocate for OERs on your campus!
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