Katrice Hawthorne and Karen Vignare - Open Education Conference, Nov. 18-20, 2015, Vancouver, Canada.

1. Katrice A. Hawthorne, PhD
Karen Vignare, PhD
Reducing Student Barriers:
The Impact of Adopting
OER at Scale
Open Education Conference
November 18 - 20, 2015
Vancouver BC, Canada

2. ● One of 11 accredited, degree-granting
institutions in the University System of
Maryland
● Largest public, online open access university
● Primarily online, but serving 50% military
including bases worldwide
● Undergrad & Grad Enrollment: 87,000
University of Maryland University College

3. ● 47% minority (34% African American)
● 20% Pell eligible
● 74% of undergrads enrolled in stateside
programs work full-time
● 54% are working parents
● 31- median age for stateside undergrads
UMUC Students

4. ● Fall 2014: 50% of undergraduate courses have
free embedded e-resources
● Fall 2015: 100% of undergraduate courses have
free e-resources
● Fall 2016: 100% of graduate courses have free e-
resources
Scope and Timeline

5. ● A team of faculty, instructional designers, and
librarians reviewed the learning outcomes of
each course.
● Located and identified appropriate OER
● Comprehensive review of each resource
performed
● When necessary, the team developed in-house
content to fill in gaps.
● Programming and production team formatted
the selected resources.
Implementation

6. Open Courseware
● Open Learning
Initiative (OLI)
● MIT Open
CourseWare
● National Repository
of Online Courses
(NROC)
Types of Sources
E-Books
● College Open
Textbooks
● Books 24x7
Subscription
● Openstax College
● Project Gutenberg

7. ● In Summer 2015, chi-square test conducted
to examine the relationship between course
completion and OER adoption.
● 34,099 students in 49 courses before and
after OER adoption were examined.
Method

8. ● Significant difference in course
completion after OER adoption, Χ2
(1)
=16.378, p < .001.
● 1.8% increase in course completion.
● 1.7% decrease in D and F grades.
Findings

9. ● In Fall 2015, log-linear analysis
conducted to examine the relationship
between course completion, OER
adoption, and Pell status.
● 18,861 students in 49 courses from
spring 2013, spring 2014, summer 2013,
and summer 2014 before and after OER
adoption were examined .
Method

10. ● Total sample = 18,861
○ 33% (n = 6,203)
● Before OER sample = 9,681
○ 31.7% (n = 3,068)
● After OER sample = 9,180
○ 34.2% (n = 3,135)
Sample - Pell

11. Findings
Before OER
n = 3,068 (Pell)
After OER
n = 3,135 (Pell)

12. ● In Fall 2015, log-linear analysis
conducted to examine the relationship
between course completion, OER
adoption, and military status.
● 18,861 students in 49 courses from
spring 2013, spring 2014, summer 2013,
and summer 2014 before and after OER
adoption were examined .
Method

13. ● Total sample =18,861
○ 38% (n =7,097) service members.
● Before OER sample = 9,681
○ 36% (n = 3,485) service members.
● After OER sample = 9,180
○ 39% (n = 3,612) service members.
Sample - Military

14. Findings

15. Findings
Before OER
Service Members
n = 3,485
Military - Other
n = 1,653
Non-military
n 4,543
After OER
Service Members
n = 3,612
Military - Other
n = 1,605
Non-military
n = 3,963

16. Cost-Savings Analysis
● Spring, Summer, and Fall 2014
Enrollment = 70,014
● Average Textbook Cost = $94.06
● Potential Cost Savings =
$5,167,748.82

17. ● 601 undergraduate courses
with a total headcount of
106,127 students
● Potential cost-savings of
$7,869,185.32
Fall 2015 Cost-Savings Analysis

18. Limitations
● Non-experimental design
● Limited controls
● Threats to validity
● Cost-savings analysis assumes all
students would purchase new
textbooks
◼

19. ● Enhanced faculty and staff expertise
in content development
● Increased opportunity for learner-
content interaction
● Increased college affordability
Return on Investment

20. ● OER do not seem to negatively impact
student learning.
● Potentially save millions of dollars in
out-of-pocket textbook costs.
Discussion

21. Questions & Contact
Karen Vignare, Vice Provost
Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success
University of Maryland University College
240-684-2610
karen.vignare@umuc.edu
Katrice A. Hawthorne, Associate Director, Evaluation and Research
Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success
University of Maryland University College
240-684-2875
katrice.hawthorne@umuc.edu