Location
Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
Start Date
5-11-2017 11:00 AM
End Date
5-11-2017 11:25 AM
Description
Despite the availability of open source textbooks, few faculty have adopted OERs as primary course resources for several reasons. Faculty are dubious as to whether OERs are sufficiently rigorous academically and as extensively reviewed as traditional textbooks distributed by major publishers. Additionally, faculty note that many scientific disciplines rely heavily on high quality, scientifically accurate figures, an area in which OERs pale in comparison to traditional textbooks. Further, OER ancillary materials are often inferior when available at all. But perhaps most importantly, faculty have not adopted OERs because they are basically satisfied with their current textbooks and lack the time and resources necessary to evaluate, adapt and supplement open texts in order to transition their courses. However, we want to prioritize access for all students to low-cost primary course resources in the face of rising tuition and book costs. We received funding from Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission to afford faculty the time and opportunity to review and evaluate an existing OER, collaborate to elevate the quality of that OER, and ultimately provide opportunities for faculty to adopt a customized OER for use in their courses and reduce the burden of expensive textbooks. We are conducting this work through a series for day long Book Sprints in which content and pedagogy experts work in small groups to review, edit and add to an open text. Following our Book Sprints, student workers with expertise in graphic design, video and accessibility compliance will conference with our faculty team to translate emergent ideas into outstanding resources for our students. Upon the completion of these efforts, OSU’s introductory human A&P course series will adopt the OER as its primary text, for an estimated cost savings of $100,000 per year to Oregon State students. All resources and texts created through this project will carry creative commons license and be freely available online.
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/20133
Human A&P: Collaborative OER Adoption
Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
Despite the availability of open source textbooks, few faculty have adopted OERs as primary course resources for several reasons. Faculty are dubious as to whether OERs are sufficiently rigorous academically and as extensively reviewed as traditional textbooks distributed by major publishers. Additionally, faculty note that many scientific disciplines rely heavily on high quality, scientifically accurate figures, an area in which OERs pale in comparison to traditional textbooks. Further, OER ancillary materials are often inferior when available at all. But perhaps most importantly, faculty have not adopted OERs because they are basically satisfied with their current textbooks and lack the time and resources necessary to evaluate, adapt and supplement open texts in order to transition their courses. However, we want to prioritize access for all students to low-cost primary course resources in the face of rising tuition and book costs. We received funding from Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission to afford faculty the time and opportunity to review and evaluate an existing OER, collaborate to elevate the quality of that OER, and ultimately provide opportunities for faculty to adopt a customized OER for use in their courses and reduce the burden of expensive textbooks. We are conducting this work through a series for day long Book Sprints in which content and pedagogy experts work in small groups to review, edit and add to an open text. Following our Book Sprints, student workers with expertise in graphic design, video and accessibility compliance will conference with our faculty team to translate emergent ideas into outstanding resources for our students. Upon the completion of these efforts, OSU’s introductory human A&P course series will adopt the OER as its primary text, for an estimated cost savings of $100,000 per year to Oregon State students. All resources and texts created through this project will carry creative commons license and be freely available online.