FYI: feel free to review and share.
P 303.862.3017 | F 303.996.1329
1600 Broadway, Suite 2200, Denver, CO 80202
O...@dhe.state.co.us | highered.colorado.gov
From:
open-textb...@googlegroups.com <open-textb...@googlegroups.com>
On Behalf Of John Hilton
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2019 11:28 AM
To: Open Textbook Network <open-textb...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [otn] New Research on OER Efficacy and Perceptions
I wanted to make you aware of a new synthesis of OER Efficacy and Perceptions article that was just published by Education Technology Research & Development. This is a trusted (top tier) academic journal that is the flagship journal of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. In short, it’s a very-well vetted and respected journal.
If you are making presentations and looking for citations regarding academic studies on OER this would be a good “go-to” article. It analyzes every OER efficacy and perceptions study done between September 2015-December 2018, and then aggregates data from those studies with every previous OER efficacy or perceptions study. Here’s the link, followed by some excerpts. I hope this information is useful to you.
Abstract
This present study synthesizes results from sixteen efficacy and twenty perceptions studies involving 121,168 students or faculty that examine either (1) OER and student efficacy in higher education settings or (2) the perceptions of college students and/or instructors who have used OER. Results across these studies suggest students achieve the same or better learning outcomes when using OER while saving significant amounts of money. The results also indicate that the majority of faculty and students who have used OER had a positive experience and would do so again.
***
By the end of 2018, a total of twenty-five peer-reviewed studies examining the efficacy of OER had been published. These studies involve 184,658 students, 41,480 who used OER and 143,178 who used CT. Three studies did not provide results regarding statistical significance. Ten reported no significant differences or mixed results. Eleven had results that favored OER. One had results that favored CT, although the researcher this study stated these differences could relate to how the learning materials were aligned with the assessment. A consistent trend across this OER efficacy research (spanning from 2008 to 2018) is that OER does not harm student learning. Although anecdotal reports that OER are not comparable to CT exist, the research does not bear this out with respect to student learning. While the impact of OER on student learning appears to be small, it is positive. Given that students save substantial amounts of money when OER is utilized, this is a particularly important pattern.
In terms of perceptions, at the end of 2018, twenty-nine studies of student and faculty perceptions of OER have been published. These studies involve 13,302 students and 2643 faculty members. Every study that has asked those who have used both OER and CT as primary learning resources to directly compare the two has shown that a strong majority of participants report that OER are as good or better. In the five studies in which the ratings of students using CT were compared with the ratings of students who used OER, two studies found higher ratings for CT, two reported higher ratings for OER and one showed similar ratings. The key pattern of OER perceptions research is easy to identify—students do not like paying for textbooks and tend to appreciate free options. Many instructors appear to be sensitive to this student preference, which may influence their ratings of OER. The fact that consistent survey data show that both faculty and students who use OER largely rate it as being equal to or superior to CT has important practical and policy implications for those responsible for choosing textbooks.
***
Does no significant improvement in academic performance justify a $150 textbook? While there certainly are significant limitations with many of the OER efficacy studies published to date, collectively, there is an emerging finding that utilizing OER simultaneously saves students money while not decreasing their learning. The facts that (1) more than 95% of published research indicates OER does not lead to lower student learning outcomes, and (2) the vast majority of students and faculty who have used both OER and CT believe OER are of equal or higher quality make it increasingly challenging to justify the high price of textbooks.
John Hilton III
Associate Professor, BYU Religious Education
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Open Textbook Network" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to
open-textbook-ne...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-textbook-network/CY4PR08MB34629D0AEC27C22024173652BCD70%40CY4PR08MB3462.namprd08.prod.outlook.com.