Conducting an Environmental Scan to Identify OER Needs at an Institution of Higher Learning

Angela Chikowero

she/her/hers

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Research & Engagement Librarian

UCSB Library

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Open Access Week

What OER is & rationale for adoption

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OER Assessment - Environmental Scan

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Assessment Results

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Questions

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Goals

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Open Educational Resources

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What are OER?

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• Educational materials that are in the public domain or are licensed to allow free use and reuse by anyone. 
• Resources licensed under an open Creative Commons license which allows for retaining, remixing, revising, reusing, and redistributing.

SPARC OPEN EDUCATION PRIMER

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OER can include:

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• articles
• textbooks
• maps
• media
• assignments
• videos and other content formats

Why Adopt OER

Case for Open Educational Resources: 

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• an affordable alternative resource for learning
• accessible to many students
• help to avail equal opportunities to students regardless of their economic backgrounds
• Improve student success rates

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The Project Kaleidoscope highlighted how OER improved student success rates.

Students at UCSB can benefit from using OER regardless of their economic background (SPARC, 2018). 

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OER Assessment Timeline

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OER Assessment: Environmental Scan Rationale

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Faculty survey and survey for the students in the Promise Scholars Program designed to assess:

• Key questions:
• Are faculty using OER?
• Are they open to adopting them?
• Are students aware of OER existence?
• Would they share about them, if so, in what ways?

OER Assessment: Survey Instruments

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Affordable Resources for Teaching

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Affordable Resources for Learning

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OER Assessment: Faculty Survey Results ��

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Survey Findings - Faculty

• Forty-six faculty from 26 departments responded.
• 55% - the targeted departments with high enrollment courses.
• Any difficulty shared in acquiring textbooks
• 40% faculty respondents - students indicated difficulties acquiring some of their learning materials.
• COVID likely exacerbated the textbook acquisition challenges for students.
• textbook acquisition challenges
• WiFi difficulties

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OER Assessment: Faculty Survey Results ��

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COVID Impact and adjusting assigning of materials

• 31% faculty respondents - COVID affected student access to resources.
• resource access challenges for international students.
• Internet or technological barriers to student accessing resources.
• 80% of the respondents shared how they had to adjust how they assign students materials due to COVID-19

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OER Assessment: Faculty Survey Results ��

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OER Familiarity

• Very - 12.8%, Somewhat - 27.7%,
• Not at all, but interested - 48.9%, Not at all & not interested- 10,6%

Faculty Using OER

• Yes - 21.3%, No - 61.7%, No & not interested - 17%

OER Usage by type

• Books - 35%, Syllabus - 6% faculty, Lecture notes - 8% faculty, Assignments - 20%

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OER Assessment: Faculty Survey Results ��

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OER Adoption

• 85.1% faculty would consider OER adoption
• 14.9% wouldn’t consider OER adoption

Why Say NO to OER:

Time, unsure what’s available, material not expensive, OER not available for their subject area

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OER Assessment: Faculty Survey Results ��

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How the UCSB Library might help in OER adoption

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OER Assessment: Promise Scholars Survey Results ��

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45 students in the Promise Scholars Program responded

• 8% - from the departments with high enrollment courses: Communication, English, Environmental Studies, Psychology, and Sociology.
• 60% of the student respondents said cost of textbooks influenced the number of units they take each quarter.
• 37.8% - avoided taking certain courses because of the cost of textbooks.
• 80% - took some courses even if they can not afford the assigned textbooks and rely on friends, Library Course Reserves or the internet for resources.
• Only 4.4% of the students said they were not affected by the cost of textbooks.

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OER Assessment: Promise Scholars Survey Results ��

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• 96% spent $500 or less, 2% said they spend $500 to $1000, and 2% spend $1000 or more on textbooks

Are 96% of the students simply doing without their required readings since they spent $500 or less for the fall quarter, 2020.

• Only 17% respondents indicated that COVID-19 had not affected their access to assigned textbooks.

Shared various textbook acquisition challenges

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OER Assessment: Promise Scholars Survey Results ��

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OER Familiarity, Benefit & Advocacy

• 80% of the students not familiar with OER, 17.8% somewhat familiar, & 2% were very familiar.
• 8.9% were not sure how they would benefit from using OER. 75.6% would save on textbook costs, and 12.6% would take more units if they have affordable learning resources.

Sharing about OER: 4.4% of students not sure. 44% to their professor & fellow students. 33% would tell fellow students. 17.8% would share with their professor.

The voices of the majority of respondents indicate a dire need for affordable learning resources.

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Recommendations for the UCSB Library

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• Develop an OER informational guide for faculty, students and staff. The guide should include resources of various formats so users can choose the format they want to use to learn about OER.

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• Proactively follow up with all faculty survey respondents and find out what form of support they might need from the UCSB Library should they consider using OER as an option for their teaching materials.

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• Plan workshops/training events for faculty to meet and learn about OER as well as exchange ideas on OER adoption. The Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning (CITRAL) is a strategic partner in planning OER workshops for faculty.

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Recommendations for the UCSB Library

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• Reach out to faculty who have already adopted OER and see if they are open to collaborating and sharing their experiences using OER at faculty workshops on OER.

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• Collaborate with faculty who are already utilizing OER, so they can encourage other faculty looking to adopt OER.

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• Monitor OER initiatives at other UC campuses for opportunities to collaborate as well as improve services locally.

“I think this would be a great opportunity for students with a lower income threshold because it would relive the [stress] of spending hundreds of dollars on textbooks”

What Some Students Said!

“I feel that this would be very helpful. Money is one of the major stresses and I would probably cry to have even a slight relief regarding that aspect of my life.”

Thank You!

Do you have any questions?

Contact: achikowero@ucsb.edu

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