Regina Gong, Librarian & OER Project Manager

Lansing Community College

gongr1@lcc.edu; @drgong

http://libguides.lcc.edu/oer

SEMLOL Fall 2017 Meeting

Detroit, MI

November 3, 2017

Librarians as Leaders and Partners in OER Initiatives

Unless otherwise noted this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0

https://www.slideshare.net/ReginaGong/presentations

Let me tell you a story first…..

Affordability is a problem

This was how my journey to OER started….

Source: https://studentpirgs.org/sp/our-textbooks-research

Finding 1: High textbook costs continue to deter

students from purchasing their assigned materials –

despite concern for their own grades.

• 65% of all respondents said that they had decided

against buying a textbook because it was too

expensive.

Finding 2: High textbook costs have ripple effects on

other academic decisions.

• Nearly half of all students surveyed said that the

cost of textbooks impacted how many/which classes

they took each semester.

Finding 3: Students believe that hard-copy optional,

free online alternatives to the traditional textbook

would improve their performance.

• 82% of students felt they would do SIGNIFICANTLY

BETTER in a course if the textbook was available

free online and buying a hard copy was optional.

Florida Virtual Campus:“2016 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey” (CC BY 4.0)

Source: Covering the Cost, 2016 t by the Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGs) www.studentpirgs.org/textbooks

High textbook prices have a disproportionate

impact on students at community college

Market Failure

Market Failure

5 major

publishers hold

nearly 80% of

the market

Source: Turning the Page by James Koch

We’ve talked about the

problem.

Now the solution….

Source: https://www.aei.org/publication/wednesday-afternoon-links-30/

Source: https://www.aei.org/publication/wednesday-afternoon-links-30/

Impact of OER

Open Educational Resources (OER)

“Teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits

their free use and re-purposing by others."

~William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

Open Educational Resources

Any kind of teaching materials – textbooks, syllabi, lesson plans, videos, readings, exams,

images, simulations, full courses, games, lectures

Open Educational Resources

• Free and unfettered access

• Perpetual, irrevocable 5R permissions

• Make and own a copyRetain

• Use in a wide range of waysReuse

• Adapt, modify, and improveRevise

• Combine two or moreRemix

• Share with othersRedistribute

The 5Rs

OER = Free + Permissions

puts the “open” in OER with total

number of CC licensed works now at

1.2 billion in 2016

Data from the State of the Commons report https://stateof.creativecommons.org/

licenses

most

open

least

open

Source: CC license image from Copyright in Education & Internet in South African Law used under CC-BY 2.5 South Africa license

“Faux-pen”

Free (possibly gated) access

Why is OER part of the library’s mission?

• Commitment to access and sharing knowledge

• Familiarity with the publishing industry and copyright

• We work closely with faculty

• Our collections support academic programs, courses, curriculum

Librarians as OER leaders

• We are experts at locating and evaluating resources

• We can find OER that align with those objectives, and assess

the effectiveness of the OER throughout the course

• We understand instructional design and know how to work

with faculty to write learning objectives

• Librarians have expertise in open access, copyright, Creative

Commons licensing, publishing can even help faculty create

and share OER

• We are trusted

Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

How can OER benefit your institution?

Increase access

Save money

Improves student success

Empower faculty

Invigorates pedagogy

Can be scaled to benefit more

LCC AT A GLANCE

• Located in downtown Lansing

• Founded in 1957

• 26,000 students enrolled/year

• Teaching faculty 90% adjuncts

• Faculty started using OER in fall

2015 semester

• No grants/stipends/incentives

were offered

• Started from the bottom up

• Administration support was strong

• Academic Senate resolution on OER passed in

March 2015

• Embarked on extensive OER awareness

• Started offering OER courses in fall 2015

semester

OER Initiative at LCC

Textbook affordability

Allow faculty exploration and innovation in finding new,

better, and less costly ways to deliver quality learning

materials to students

OER Initiative Goals

Fall 2015 Spring 2016

Summer

2016 Fall 2016 Spring 2017

Summer

2017 Fall 2017

Running

Total

Faculty Using OER 5 12 4 46 48 26 74 215

Courses Using OER 5 10 4 14 16 12 27 88

Sections Using OER 11 23 6 101 100 33 150 424

Students Enrolled 317 540 129 2,825 2,558 724 3,724 10,817

Actual Textbook

Savings (based on new

print book) $63,286.75 $92,077.75 $26,792.50 $351,449.00 $318,974.50 $90,642.50 $470,718.25 $1,413,941.25

Total Textbook Savings

(no. of students*$100) $31,700 $54,000 $12,900 $282,500 $255,800 $72,400 $372,400 $1,081,700

OER Adoptions Summary

OER adopters OER creators

OER Authored by LCC Faculty

Dr. Matthew Van Cleave, Philosophy faculty

Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=457

Dr. Mark Kelland, Psychology faculty

Personality Theory: A Multicultural Perspectivehttps://www.oercommons.org/courses/personality-theory-a-multicultural-perspective

OER Authored by LCC Faculty

Tao of Positive Psychologyhttps://www.oercommons.org/authoring/19643-tao-of-positive-psychology

OER OEP

Open Learning Lab

Domain of One’s Own

Renewable assignments

Leveraging Partnerships

Institutional member of CCCOER

OpenStax institutional partner

Strategies that work

•Meet faculty individually and as a group

•Continued, ongoing professional development

•Encourage and turn OER believers into OER champions in your campuses

“I see this as an issue of access to education and even an issue of justice. If education is necessary for securing certain basic human rights, then lack of access to education is itself an issue of justice. Providing high quality, low-cost textbooks is one, small part of making higher education more affordable and thus more equitable and just. This open textbook is a contribution towards that end.”

Dr. Matthew Van Cleave, Professor of Philosophy

OER Textbook Author “Intro to Logic and Critical Thinking”

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=457

“Our students are poor and most of them on Pell grant. When I had to escort two of my students to the food pantry, I knew I had to change my textbook to OER and I’m glad I did so maybe you should too.”

Dr. Sharon Hughes, Professor of Psychology

Adopted OpenStax Psychology

•Meet faculty individually and as a group

•Continued, ongoing professional development

•Encourage and turn OER believers into OER champions

•Communicate success college-wide and beyond

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/07/26/midwest-community-college-pushes-widespread-use-oer

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2017/08/15/lansing-community-college-cutting-costly-textbooks/551936001/

http://web.lcc.edu/lookout/2017/10/20/oer-helps-students-save-on-books/

http://www.chronicle.com/article/Appointments-Resignations/241331

http://openedgroup.org/fellowship

•Meet faculty individually and as a group

•Continued, ongoing professional development

•Encourage and turn OER believers into OER champions

•Communicate success college-wide

•Pursue partnerships and collaborations within & outside of your institution

Photo by Fredo Figaredo on Unsplash

http://libguides.lcc.edu/oer/award

$1,600,000

Image source: https://unsplash.com/search/money?photo=OCrPJce6GPk

Photo by Tony Wallström on Unsplash

OER AS A SOCIAL JUSTICE

ISSUE

More than just textbook affordability

• How will they get to class if they can’t afford gas money or a bus

pass?

• How will they afford childcare on top of tuition fees?

• How will they focus on their homework if they haven’t had a square

meal in two days or if they don’t know where they will be sleeping

that night?

• How will their families pay rent if they cut back their work hours in

order to attend classes?

• How much more student loan debt will they take on for each

additional semester it takes to complete all of their required

classes?

• How will they obtain the credit card they need to purchase an

access code?

• How will they regularly access their free open textbook if they don’t

own an expensive laptop or tablet?

• Will they be able to read their Chemistry textbook given their vision

impairment?

• Will their LMS site list them by their birth name rather than their

chosen name, and thereby misgender them?

• Will they have access to the knowledge they need for research if

their college restricts their search access or if they don’t have Wi-Fi

or a computer at home?

• Are they safe to participate in online, public collaborations if they

are undocumented?

• Is their college or the required adaptive learning platform collecting

data on them, and if so, could those data be used in ways that

could put them at risk?

Are you prepared, ready, & willing to lead the OER initiative in your

campuses?

YES or NO or Maybe?

Image source: https://unsplash.com/collections/167234/questions?photo=i--IN3cvEjg

Regina Gong, gongr1@lcc.edu ; @drgong