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Fwd: FW: New Research on OER Efficacy and Perceptions

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Baker,Dan

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Oct 23, 2019, 10:40:34 AM10/23/19
to Engineering Statics (OER) Group
Great news from a recent meta-analysis that found that the majority of students and faculty who have used OER rate the material as being equal to or superior to commercial textbooks!
Dan
____________________________________________________

Daniel W Baker PhD PE, Teaching Assistant Professor
  Office:  ENGR B206                      Phone: 970-491-0261
  Email:  dan....@colostate.edu   
Twitter: @drdanteaches
  YouTube: DrDanTeaches


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: OER <O...@dhe.state.co.us>
Date: Tue, Oct 15, 2019 at 3:52 PM
Subject: FW: New Research on OER Efficacy and Perceptions
To:


FYI: feel free to review and share.

 

cid:image001.png@01D5096F.73FE1970

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.

 

https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s11423-019-09700-4?author_access_token=-ddomufEBgUef598h7OMr_e4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY7Pc0s0lGF-oGjl1mZ6ESdUvOUJiqYj22TE1JccfmQDtOsHp4hmgFRolplHETD9LeItuM3KNAZkDtGVAqFQHkDE4zH7K4ww4TJh9PPUIBmuMA%3D%3D  

 

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

http://johnhiltoniii.com

http://openedgroup.org

http://thehiltonfamily.org

 

 

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