A Qualitative Investigation of Faculty
Open Educational Resource Usage in
the Washington Community and
Technical College System: Models for
Support and Implementation
Boyoung Chae, Ph.D. & Mark Jenkins, Ph.D.
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

An infrastructure of support for faculty
use of OER: Washington’s SBCTC

Purpose of the Study
• To investigate community and technical college
faculty’s OER usage and support needs.
– How do community and technical college faculty
members use OER?
– What are the benefits and challenges faculty
experienced in implementing OER?
– What types of support do faculty require to make OER
more usable and significant in their teaching practice?

Methodology
• Employed a qualitative interview study design.
• Preceded by a state-wide survey with 770 faculty
members.
• Conducted the follow-up phone interviews with
the survey participants.
• Used a criterion sampling method: Participants
are faculty members who teach regular quarter-
based classes in the Washington state community
or technical college.

Finding 1: Faculty’s Use of Open
Educational Resources
• Spectrum of using OER
– Supplementary use
• Supplementing the course with OER
unintentionally.
• Supplementing the course with OER intentionally.
– Primary use
• Using the open textbook as a replacement for
commercial textbooks.
• Using the open course materials. Complete
disassociation from the format of the textbook

Finding 1: Faculty’s Use of Open
Educational Resources
• Motivation (1).
– Faculty’s belief in more accessible education.
• Many faculty expressed their strong belief in
making education more accessible.
• Implementing alternatives to commercial
textbooks has been their long-term practice.

Finding 1: Faculty’s Use of Open
Educational Resources
• Motivation (2).
– Faculty’s pursuit in pedagogical freedom
• OER appealed to them because of their fluid
and flexible nature.
• To the question of what OER meant to them,
faculty mentioned the words “freedom” and
“liberation.”

Finding 2: Benefits in Using OER
Benefits faculty
experienced
Saving
Students
Money
Enhanced
Instructional
Responsiveness
Evolving
content
Active student
involvement
Increased
Collaboration
More Diverse
course
content
Increased
Reflection on
Teaching
Practice
Convenience
of Use

Finding 2: Benefits in Using OER
• Saving students money
– Students expressed gratitude and satisfaction to
the fact that they do not have to purchase
commercial textbooks.
– The faculty’s attitudes concerning students’
financial well-being helped them build a
connection with their students.

Finding 2: Benefits in Using OER
• Enhanced instructional responsiveness
– Evolving content
– Active student involvement

Finding 2: Benefits in Using OER
• More diverse course content
– OER helped faculty implement various learning
materials from some of the best educational
resources .
– Being able to access these resources enhanced
students’ learning experience.

Finding 2: Benefits in Using OER
• Increased reflection on teaching practice
– OER helped faculty reflect on their current teaching
practices and encouraged them to try different
teaching style.

Finding 2: Benefits in Using OER
• Convenience of use
– With the adoption of OER, faculty no longer
experienced a range of inconveniences associated
with commercial textbooks.

Finding 3: Challenges of Using OER
Challenges faculty
experienced
Lack of time
Uninviting
climate
Lack of
technology
and skills
Feeling of
uncertainty
Difficulty in
wading
through
Differences in
course
specificaitons

Finding 3: Challenges of Using OER
• Lack of time
– The most frequently mentioned challenge,
consistent through faculty at all levels of OER use.
– Faculty used their sabbatical years to restructure
the course.
– Adjunct faculty did not receive any relief time or
sabbatical leave to work on OER implementation.

Finding 3: Challenges of Using OER
• Uninviting climate
– Faculty concerned that their OER implementation
would not be welcomed in their department.
– This was mostly stated by adjunct faculty, who
were not participants in their department’s
textbook selection process.

Finding 3: Challenges of Using OER
• Lack of technology and skills
– Students struggled with technology issues with
OER.
– Returning adults experience discomfort with OER’s
technological requirements.

Finding 3: Challenges of Using OER
• Feeling of uncertainty
– OER requires a paradigm shift in the relationships
of the knowledge consumer and creator
– Both faculty and students experienced anxiety
with the increased flexibility and fluidity of OER
based class.

Finding 3: Challenges of Using OER
• Difficulty in wading through the information
– Faculty experience some initial difficulties with in
wading through the available OER.

Finding 3: Challenges of Using OER
• Differences in course specifications.
– Faculty expressed difficulty in finding the relevant
OER that exactly meets their needs and
expectations.
– Faculty prefer to develop their own materials using
various OER, instead of adopting an entire course
package.

Finding 4: Support Needed

Recommendations
• Recommendation for the Policy Makers
– Policies on copyright ownership,
– Policies on individual faculty’s use of OER, and
– Policies on the registration system.
• Recommendation for College Administrators.
• Recommendation for Researchers.

Contact
• Full report is available at
http://goo.gl/dERBtX.
• Contact authors with any questions:
Boyoung Chae (bchae@sbctc.edu) &
Mark Jenkins (mjenkins@sbctc.edu)