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1	Is It Worth It? Evaluating an Open Educational Resources Awards Program Sergiadis, Ashley, Smith, Philip 01 January 2022 (has links) Awards or grant programs are a common way for higher education institutions to incentivize the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and other affordable course materials. This study evaluates the results of a two-year pilot OER awards program at East Tennessee State University. To assess the awards program, we used data from student savings and program costs, grades, drop-fail-withdrawal (DFW) rates, and survey results compiled within the COUP framework (Cost, Outcomes, Usage, and Perception). The initial monetary return on investment was moderately positive, while the grades and DFW rates remained steady. The faculty and students rated the open and affordable materials as well as the OER awards program favorably but expressed some issues with using and implementing open and affordable resources. Based on these results, we determined that the awards program was worth the costs and efforts but needed improvements specifically to address the faculty’s feedback around the lack of time to implement OER and the absence of OER for their courses. Open Educational Resources OER affordable course materials awards program grant program textbook affordability Charles C. Sherrod Library Scholarly Communication
2	Textbook Cost-lowering Initiatives: An Exploration Of Community College Faculty Experiences Dunn, Susan 01 January 2014 (has links) Faculty have been identified as critical players in the implementation of textbook affordability efforts at community colleges. Furthermore, emerging lower-cost alternatives to traditional textbooks present a wide and growing range of options that may help further efforts. This study sought to examine more closely the role of faculty with respect to textbook cost-lowering initiatives. The researcher utilized in-depth interviews to gain a rich picture of the experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of nine full-time community college faculty as they confronted textbook affordability efforts and textbook alternatives. The interview data were analyzed using a thematic analysis process. Five major themes and three minor themes were identified. The five major themes were: (a) campus administrators support, but do not mandate, efforts; (b) frequent edition revisions frustrate faculty; (c) departmental approaches to textbook selection vary; (d) content, then affordability, drive selection choices; and (e) faculty have mixed feelings about textbook alternatives. The three minor themes were: (a) faculty efforts to save students money are thwarted by campus bookstores and financial aid policies; (b) English faculty benefit from public domain readings; and (c) more faculty participating in textbook selection means more difficulty deciding on a text. Implications and recommendations were offered for community college leaders, campus bookstores, publishers, and future researchers. Textbooks costs open educational resources oer ebooks etextbooks electronic textbooks custom editions custom textbooks higher education costs college costs costs of college cost of community college textbook affordability affordability digital textbooks textbook alternatives qualitative research in depth interviews faculty thematic analysis community college community college faculty theory of planned behavior Education Educational Leadership

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Is It Worth It? Evaluating an Open Educational Resources Awards Program

Textbook Cost-lowering Initiatives: An Exploration Of Community College Faculty Experiences