Community College Professors' Perceptions of Open Educational Resources and Their Impact on Student Success and Social Justice in Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Moskowitz Kauffman
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
College Professors

scholarly journals The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Levi Hilton III ◽  
Donna Gaudet ◽  
Phil Clark ◽  
Jared Robinson ◽  
David Wiley
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Community College ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Fall Semester ◽  
Educational Benefits ◽  
Open Access Resources ◽  
Open Textbooks

<p>The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on one community college’s adoption of a collection of open resources across five different mathematics classes. During the 2012 fall semester, 2,043 students in five different courses used these open access resources. We present a comparison between the previous two years in terms of the number of students who withdrew from the courses and the number that completed the courses with a C grade or better. Our analysis suggests that while there was likely no change in these educational outcomes, students who have access to open access materials collectively saved a significant amount of money. Students and faculty were surveyed as to their perceptions of these materials and the results were generally favorable.</p>

scholarly journals Ladders in the orchard: What’s next for OER?

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Chelsea Contrada ◽  
Kathryn Good-Schiff
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Community College ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Public Colleges ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Community College System ◽  
Virginia Community College System ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
College System ◽  
The Creation

A movement to encourage and increase the creation and use of open educational resources (OER) in U.S. higher education has been growing for about 20 years. In Massachusetts, for example, 71 percent of public colleges are already using OER to some extent, although the total number of courses affected remains relatively small. The most common number of OER courses per school is between 11 and 20. Studies continue to show that the high cost of textbooks is a burden for students, to the point that many states have adopted legislation to reduce textbook costs or promote OER. However, in a study that surveyed faculty from the Virginia Community College System, Dr Braddlee and Amy VanScoy concluded that use of OER is still a “niche phenomenon, the province of innovators and early adopters.” Any change, no matter how potentially beneficial, takes both time and effort.

A Comparison of Academic Outcomes in Courses Taught With Open Educational Resources and Publisher Content

2021 ◽  
pp. 0013189X2110525
Author(s):  
Linda Bol ◽  
Monica Christina Esqueda ◽  
Diane Ryan ◽  
Sue C. Kimmel
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Course Completion ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Introductory Courses ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Course Materials ◽  
Persistence Rates ◽  
Exam Scores

What difference do open educational resources (OER) make compared with publisher content (non-OER) when costs and instructors remain constant? A total of 215 community college students enrolled in online, introductory courses were randomly assigned to OER or non-OER sections and compared on retention at the tuition drop date, completion with a C or better, course completion, and mean final exam scores. Students in the OER sections were retained and persisted at a statistically significant higher rate, lending credibility to the findings of former studies regarding retention and persistence rates in courses taught with OER materials. No statistically significant differences were found on completion rates or final exam scores. OER course materials should be considered in broader initiatives for student success in community colleges.

scholarly journals Open Educational Resources as a Catalyst for Innovation and Lifelong Learning: A Question of Human Rights and Social Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebba Ossiannilsson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Education For All ◽  
Building Capacity ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Opening Up

A milestone in the achievement of UNESCO’s Sustainability Goals, Education for All (SDG4), was passed when the organization’s recommendation for the implementation of Open Educational Resources (OER) was uniformly adopted in 2019. Now it is time to move from the awareness of OER to their mainstream implementation at all levels, micro, meso, and macro, including all stakeholders, such as governments, institutions, academics, teachers, administrators, librarians, students, learners, and the civil service. The OER Recommendation includes five areas: building capacity and utilizing OER; developing supportive policies; ensuring effectiveness; promoting the creation of sustainable OER models; promoting and facilitating international collaboration; monitoring and evaluation.OER are valued as a catalyst for innovation and the achievement of UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of education for all, lifelong learning, social justice, and human rights. The implementation of the OER Recommendation will contribute to the achievement of several other SDGs. Because access to quality OER concerns human rights and social justice, this recommendation is vital. In 2020, the effects of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrated the importance of opening up education and the access to internationally recognized, qualified learning resources. This article describes and discusses how the promise of resilient, sustainable quality education can be fulfilled in the new normal and the next normal.

scholarly journals Critical Social Justice Leadership: Putting “Community” Back in Community College

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50
Author(s):  
Diane E. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Leadership Strategies ◽  
Social Justice Leadership ◽  
College Leaders ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
College Work ◽  
Critical Social

This article proposes that connecting to and understand-ing the experiences of the communities and students served must become a priority of community college work at all levels. Findings add to the understanding of social justice issues in relation to community colleges and include medium-high to high positive correlations between accuracy of knowledge of social justice issues impacting students and communities and the valuing of social justice practices. These strategies culminate in what the author calls a new model of leadership: Criti-cal Social Justice Leadership (CSJL). Recommendations include stronger social justice training for leaders in edu-cational leadership programs and Boards of Trustees, the incorporation of social justice understandings into accreditation standards, as well as the collection of broader and deeper data to more fully understand and address student outcomes. Through an examination of litera-ture and data from interviews with ten California com-munity college leaders, this article explores the rhetoric of achievement (and now student success) in relation to social justice realities and community college leadership. The article then shifts to exploring the Critical Social Jus-tice Leadership model as a way to illuminate the connec-tion between the systemic social justice realities impact-ing the communities served by community colleges and the kinds of leadership strategies that might more thor-oughly and effectively address issues relating to student success.

scholarly journals Exploring Open Educational Resources for College Algebra

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela Chiorescu
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Hybrid Learning ◽  
College Algebra ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Post Secondary Education ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
School Year ◽  
College Instructor

<p class="3">It is estimated that the average student spends around 1200 USD on books and supplies every school year; thus, textbook affordability has become more and more of a challenge for students. Replacing traditionally expensive learning resources with open educational resources (OER) can have a great impact in the reduction of cost for post-secondary education and student learning. With these benefits as a backdrop, this article describes a case study in which one college instructor adopted OER for College Algebra, offered as a hybrid learning model. This paper discusses this experience with adopting such materials and their impact on student success.</p>

Open educational resources and social justice: Potentials and implications for research productivity in higher educational institutions

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Vollan O Ochieng ◽  
Razak M Gyasi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Research Productivity ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Competitive Edge ◽  
Learning Institutions

Research is an essential tool for the creation and advancement of knowledge for socio-economic development. Whilst individuals pursue different kinds of education in order to match international standards, employers are keen to recruit employees with needed skills for a competitive edge. Due to the newly existing educational technologies, individuals have been left with insatiable desire to learn more skills, yet, with limited resources. The advent of Open Education (OE) has led to mass retention, use/re-use, redistribution, revision, and remix of open educational resources (OERs) thereby transforming the learning and research landscape in higher learning institutions. This paper analysed the contribution of OERs and social justice (SJ) on research productivity in higher education institutions. A scoping review was adopted for this study to gather extant literature from relevant available databases with the aim of obtaining as much evidence as possible to make a clearer and succinct conclusion. Existing literature provides evidence that OER and SJ principles positively influence production of research outputs in higher education institutions. The main challenges hindering universality of OERs include economic, technical, legal, social, and infrastructural requirements needed for availing OERs to the beneficiaries including learners, educators, learning institutions and governments. Currently, there are many open and free-to-use resources and websites existing on the internet. There is however, need for attitudinal change towards OERs among students, academics, and scholars among other stakeholders if its optimum uptake is to be realized.

scholarly journals Facilitating Student Success: The Role of Open Educational Resources in Introductory Psychology Courses

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer N Engler ◽  
Randi Shedlosky-Shoemaker
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Content Mastery ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Barriers To Access ◽  
Psychology Courses ◽  
Course Material ◽  
The Impact

Open Educational Resources (OER) remove barriers to access instructional material. In light of their increased availability and use, a body of research has emerged to examine the impact of OER on college student success. While many of these studies have broadly examined efficacy across a variety of disciplines, the current study specifically examined the impact of the type of textbook (commercial vs. OER) on course content mastery within an undergraduate sample of introductory psychology students ( N = 63) while controlling for instructor and student differences. Results indicated that there were no significant differences in content mastery between those students in introductory psychology courses who were assigned a traditional commercial textbook and those who were assigned an OER textbook. These results support that OER can be equally effective as traditional, commercial textbooks and have implications for course material selections that help ensure access for all students.

scholarly journals Grants and Acquisitions

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 416
Author(s):  
Ann-Christe Galloway
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Average Cost ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Research Groups ◽  
Course Materials ◽  
Education Fund ◽  
Education Initiative

Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. for PALSave, an affordable education initiative that will combat rising textbook costs and their detrimental effects on student success and retention. The average cost of textbooks annually is about $1,300.  Research from The Student Public Interest Research Groups and U.S. PIRG Education Fund shows that some students have to borrow more to pay for college, are likely not to buy required materials at some point, and might even drop a class because of text prices. PALNI offers the PALSave program in response to this need and to help provide a proactive solution to textbook affordability. The grant will enable PALNI to support course transformations using course materials which are free to students, focusing on Open Educational Resources worldwide.

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