Affordable learning through OER is gaining popularity in American colleges
The launch of degree programmes without textbook costs are on the increase in the US, however the institutions are finding the move from small-scale adoption to institution-wide adoption is a big leap. Reports suggest that key to developing OER (Open Education Resources, ie. no or few textbooks) courses is making it easy for faculty to find resources through a type of curated library, and some colleges are recommend offering other, low-cost, education materials to bridge the gaps. On this theme, Tidewater Community College (a pioneer in OER teaching) runs a degree programme in business administration, billed as America’s first textbook-free degree, which has has provided a strong marketing opportunity for the school, as current and prospective parents and students pay growing attention to costs beyond tuition.

Open Educational Resources

Affordable Learning at Scale With OER

Open educational resources free students and faculty from the tyranny of the textbook. Here's how to encourage large-scale adoption.

Gerry Hanley has a vision. He wants to plant a big thermometer on California State University Web sites to show how much money students are saving by not having to buy traditionally published textbooks or ancillary resources. His rough estimate: As of a few years ago, learners at the 23-campus, 460,200-student university system were spending $300 million a year on course materials — about $651 per student per school year. His goal is to cut that in half, and he believes the result will be higher graduation rates and better quality of education.

"If I could save 50 percent for students, that'd be great," said Hanley, Cal State's assistant vice chancellor for academic technology services and executive director of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). A visionary in the open educational resources universe, Hanley was there for the 1997 unveiling of MERLOT, when Cal State launched it as a community to collect, evaluate and publish OER teaching and learning materials.

3 Tips for OER Success Provide as much training and information as possible for your faculty team up front before they start building their OER courses. Linda Williams, OER leader at Tidewater Community College, regrets not doing so. "I think it would have alleviated some trepidation."

Have your subject teams work with data from the LMS aggregated over the course of the semester to pinpoint modules where students have been most successful and where they're least successful, in order to target areas that need improvement. Then create a "master" class from which instructors can start.

Enlist your librarians to help faculty with copyright issues. "We found that that is helping to encourage faculty to branch out, even in small ways for OER," said Williams.

But his current vision is impeded by a big obstacle. Achieving that 50 percent savings for students will take systemwide adoption of open educational resources and other low-cost options — a major transformation.

Promoting Affordable Learning

Cal State has about 24,400 faculty members. Turning a ship with that size of crew is a major undertaking, so the system has introduced a methodical approach to drive adoption. Dozens — and in some cases hundreds — of faculty members at 20 of its institutions are immersed in Affordable Learning Solutions (ALS), a program designed to support the use of free or low-cost course materials.

Implementing affordable learning at a large scale requires four critical activities, Hanley explained:

1) Enabling ecosystems. "Leadership is essential," particularly at the chancellor and provost levels, Hanley asserted. "They put money behind the initiatives that let this happen. They often change policies. They will help develop business relationships." If institutional leadership doesn't create an environment that enables funding and other kinds of support, broad adoption for affordable learning isn't possible.

2) Developing demand. Here's where organizational change comes into play. Faculty need to have an "intrinsic drive," said Hanley, to consider looking at OER or other affordable options. That requires a plan that lays out professional development and training, support and "community communications," he explained. "It really is about how you get a culture and faculty and academic disciplines saying, 'I want to do something different.'" One way Cal State spurs participation is by showcasing ALS work by each campus and each instructor online.