1. Getting started with OER: What, Why,
and Some Mythbusting
Christina Hendricks, UBC
Professor of Teaching
Academic Director, Centre for Teaching, Learning & Technology
JIBC Open Education Showcase, Nov. 2019
Except for elements licensed otherwise, these slides are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

2. Slides available:
is.gd/oerjibc2019

3. What does
“open” mean?

4. Open as in Free of Cost
Open as in cost Libros Libres, by
Alan Levine, licensed
CC BY 2.0, Flickr

5. Open like a museum
Open like a museum
A Day at the
Museum 2, by
Robert Couse-Baker,
licensed CC BY 2.0,
Flickr

6. 5 R’s of open
content
◉ Reuse
◉ Revise
◉ Remix
◉ Redistribute
◉ Retain
Open Content Definition by David Wiley; Creative Commons Logo from CC Downloads

7. Open Edu Resources
“Open Educational Resources (OER) are
teaching, learning and research materials in
any medium – digital or otherwise – that
reside in the public domain or have been
released under an open license that permits
no-cost access, use, adaptation and
redistribution by others with no or limited
restrictions.” (UNESCO)
OER logo by Markus Büsges for Wikimedia Deutschland, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

8. Other openness
Adapted from Hodgkinson-Williams (2014)
Technical Inclusive/Accessible Pedagogical/Open
Edu Practices
Open formats;
technical skills
needed
Diverse ways of knowing Collaborative &
experiential; connecting to
wider community
Availability,
discovery
Digital accessibility,
Inclusive/Universal Design
Contribution to knowledge,
not just consumption

9. Why OER?

10. Rising cost of textbooks
Source: US Bureau of Labor
Statistics
Textbook costs
College tuition
& fees
Housing at
school

11. BC students
JIBC LESD
(2019)
60% Didn’t buy a required textbook because of cost
UBC
(2018)
66% Have gone w/o required texts in a course b/c of
cost (rarely, sometimes, often or frequently; 32%:
often or frequently)
BC
(2015)
54% Didn’t purchase a required textbook at least once in
the past 12 months because of cost
JIBC: Daddey 2019; UBC: AMS Undergraduate Experience Survey 2018; BC: Jhangiani & Jhangiani (2017)

12. Equity
◉ Increased access financially
◉ Better learning, retention
◉ Accessibility of resources
○ E.g., OER accessibility toolkit
◉ Students contributing to
public knowledge

13. Customizability
Ability for faculty, staff and
students to alter the materials
◉ Customize to context
◉ Update where needed

14. PHYS 100 at UBC
94% The readings were customized to this particular
course: somewhat or very important
92% The textbook didn’t cost any money: somewhat or
very important
Hendricks, C., Reinsberg, S. A., & Rieger, G. W. (2017)

15. Myths

16. Low Quality?
Learning outcomes
25 studies (2002-2018)
184,658 students
All but one: same or better
outcomes
Perceptions of quality
29 studies (2002-2018)
13,302 students, 2643 faculty
Strong majority rate OER as
good or better
Hilton (2019)

17. This Sewer is
Copyrighted, by Alan
Levine, licensed CC
BY 2.0, Flickr
Give up copyright?

18. Resources ≠ education
Research suggests better course completion,
retention (Fischer et al. 2015; Wiley et al. 2016; Hilton et al.
2016)
Lose students?
Chemistry
Building at UBC
Vancouver,
public domain,
Wikimedia
Commons

19. Open as in … ?

20. Slides: is.gd/oerjibc2019
◉ @clhendricksbc (Twitter)
◉ christina.hendricks@ubc.ca
Thanks!

21. Useful resources
◉ Annotated bibliography of multiple studies showing the efficacy of
open textbooks: the Open Ed Group Review Project
◉ College Libraries Ontario OER Toolkit
◉ BCcampus Faculty OER Toolkit
◉ BCcampus OER by Discipline Directory (frequently updated with
new items)
◉ Rebus Community Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students

22. References
Fischer, L., Hilton III, J., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. A. (2015). A multi-institutional study of the
impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students—
Springer. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 27(3), 159–172.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-015-9101-x
Hendricks, C., Reinsberg, S. A., & Rieger, G. W. (2017). The Adoption of an open textbook in a
large physics course: An analysis of cost, outcomes, use, and perceptions. The International
Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4). Retrieved from
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3006
Hilton, J. (2019). Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: A
synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018. Educational Technology Research and
Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09700-4

23. References cont’d
Hilton III, J. L., Fischer, L., Wiley, D., & William, L. (2016). Maintaining Momentum Toward Graduation:
OER and the Course Throughput Rate. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed
Learning, 17(6). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2686
Hodgkinson-Williams, C. (2014, June 25). Degrees of ease: Adoption of OER, open textbooks and
MOOCs in the Global South. Presented at the OER Asia Symposium 2014. Retrieved from
https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/1188
Jhangiani, R. S., & Jhangiani, S. (2017). Investigating the perceptions, use, and impact of open textbooks:
A survey of post-secondary students in British Columbia. The International Review of Research in
Open and Distributed Learning, 18(4). Retrieved from
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3012
Wiley, D., Williams, L., DeMarte, D., & Hilton, J. (2016). The Tidewater Z-Degree and the INTRO model
for sustaining OER adoption. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 24(0), 41.
https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.24.1828

24. Credits
Special thanks to the people who made and released these
resources:
◉ Presentation template (Viola) by SlidesCarnival, licensed
CC BY 4.0
◉ Icons purchased with a subscription to The Noun
Project