This document discusses strategies for adopting open educational resources (OER) to improve student access, affordability, and success. It provides an overview of OER, outlines several benefits such as reduced costs and increased customization, and shares examples of successful OER implementations at other colleges. Specific strategies presented include identifying high-enrollment "sweet spot" courses, developing full OER degree programs, starting with small pilots and expanding based on results, and engaging students. The document concludes with a discussion of how an organization called Lumen Learning supports large-scale OER adoption through customized course materials, personalized learning tools, and degree programs consisting entirely of OER options.

1. Improving Access, Affordability
and Student Success with Open
Educational Resources

2. 2
Improving Access, Affordability and Student
Success with Open Educational Resources
Josh Baron, Open Education Ambassador, Lumen
Learning

3. 3
Improving Access, Affordability and Student Success with
Open Educational Resources
• Setting the Context: Why Adopt OER?
• What are Open Educational Resources
(OER)?
• Demonstration: OER Adoption in the Wild
• Strategies and Impact from the Real World
• Discussion: OER Adoption and Frostburg
State’s Strategic GoalsQ & A as we go...

4. 4
Why adopt OER?

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7
Textbook cost impacts student success
Source: 2012 student survey by Florida Virtual Campus
60%+ do not purchase textbooks at
some point due to cost
35% take fewer courses due to
textbook cost
31% choose not to register for a
course due to textbook cost
23% regularly go without textbooks
due to cost
14% have dropped a course due
to textbook cost
10% have withdrawn from a course
due to textbook cost
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8. 8
Open Educational Resources

9. 9
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Any kind of teaching materials
(e.g., textbooks, syllabi, lesson plans, images, videos,
readings, quiz items, assignments, grading rubrics,
etc.)
In the public domain or licensed to allow:
1. Free and unfettered access to anyone, and
2. Free permission to engage in the “5R activities”:
Retain, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute

10. 1 0
• 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

11. 1 1

12. 1 2
By Giffin Francoeur - https://www.emaze.com/@AIZOWOCR/Creative-Commons!

13. 1 3
free ≈ open

14. 1 4
Demo: 5R in Action

15. 1 5
Have we built a better
mouse trap?

16. Cost to
Students
Permissions
to Faculty
and Students
Commercial
Textbooks
Expensive Restrictive
Library
Resources
Free Restrictive
Open Educational
Resources
Free 5Rs
David Wiley, Why Should You Offer an OER Degree Program?

17. Free
5Rs
✔
✔
What about quality?

18. 11 Peer Reviewed Studies
http://openedgroup.org/

19. 48,623 Students
http://openedgroup.org/

20. 93% Same or Better Outcomes
http://openedgroup.org/

21. 9 Peer Reviewed Studies of
Perceptions of OER Quality
http://openedgroup.org/

22. 4,510 Professors and Students
http://openedgroup.org/

23. 50%
Same35%
Better
15%
Worse
http://openedgroup.org/

24. Free ✔
5Rs ✔
Quality ✔

25. WARNING:
Ethical Dilemma Coming Your Way!

26. Strategies and Impact from the
Real World

27. Strategy #1: Identify a “Sweet Spot” for OER
Pick a “sweet spot” course for OER redesign.
Use OER to create a course designed expressly for your
students’ needs.
Shift all sections to OER in short order.
Showcase success with regards to cost savings and
impact on student success
✓
✓
✓
✓
Awareness
Faculty buy-in
Islands and isolation
Growing beyond a toehold
Bookstore
Departmental support
Administrative support
✓
✓
Overcome These Obstacles
✓
✓
✓

28. 2 8
Monroe Community College
Complete OER Migration & Customization of a High-impact Course
Goals:
• Reduce cost to students
• Increase access to essential
content
• Make content more relevant, useful
Process:
• Project led by library
• Significant localization: “College
Success at Monroe CC”
• Print required, with full course
catalog embedded
Results
• Full adoption of OER for all
sections of College Success
• Enrolled all underprepared
first-year students
• Retention up 15%
• Cost to students down to $18
from $141
• Free digital + low-cost print
book

29. 2 9
First Year Experience
(ORIE 305)
Towson University

30. 3 0
Strategy #2
Make OER part of a broader
strategic initiative around
affordability, access, success
Examples:
• OER degree programs
• Departmental differentiation and
branding
• Developmental education makeover
✓
✓
✓
✓
Awareness
Faculty buy-in
Islands and isolation
Growing beyond a toehold
Bookstore
Departmental support
Administrative support
✓
✓
Overcome These Obstacles
✓
✓
✓

31. 3 1
OER-based Degrees

32. 3 2
Would students like 12% off per year?
$3,280 $3,280
$1,424 $1,464
$700
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
$5,000
$6,000
Textbooks OER
Traditional vs. Z-Degree at Towson State
Tuition Fees Textbooks
12% Reduction
in Student Cost
PER SEMESTER

33. 3 3
Strategy #3
Start with a small-scale adoption
but commit to consider expanding
if metrics are good.
• Track before/after metrics
• Engage departmental leadership to
follow up
✓
✓
✓
✓
Awareness
Faculty buy-in
Islands and isolation
Growing beyond a toehold
Bookstore
Departmental support
Administrative support
✓
Overcome These Obstacles
✓
✓

34. 3 4
Mercy College
Gradual expansion from small pilot
64%
48%
69%
53%
74%
60%
77%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
FALL TERM SPRING TERM
YEAR
# STUDENTS
2011
697
2012
695
2013
640
2011
486
2012
513
2013
457
2014
418
No
OER
All
OER
All
OER
Some
OER
All
OER
All
OER
All
OER
Passing rates
up 29%!
Adapted from work of Zsuzsa Komeni-Fejes

35. Core Curriculum Courses with OER
• ENGL 102, Writing for a Liberal Education
• ECON 205, Statistics for Business and
Economics
• MATH 105, Mathematical Ideas
• MATH 106, Intro to Contemporary Math
• MATH 109, Transition to Algebra for
Applications
• MATH 111, Finite Mathematics
• MATH 119, Pre-Calculus
• MATH 231, Basic Statistics
• MATH 273, Calculus I
• MATH 274, Calculus II
• ENGL 231, American Literature to 1865
• ENGL 232, American Literature since 1865
• HIST 145, History of the U.S. to the Civil War
• HIST 146, History of the U.S. since the Civil
War
• POSC 103, American National Government
• MUSC 105, Music Theory for Non-Majors
• ARTH 221, Survey of Western Art I
• COMM 131, Fundamental of Speech
Communication
• ENGL 221, British Literature to 1798
• ECON 201, Microeconomic Principles
• ECON 202, Macroeconomic Principles
• PSYC 101, Introduction to Psychology
• SOCI 101, Introduction to Sociology
• BIOL 120, Principles of Biology
• CHEM 131+ 131L, General Chemistry
• CHEM 132 + 132L, General Chemistry II
• GEOL 121, Physical Geology
• PHYS 211, General Physics I Non-Calculus
Based

36. 3 6
Strategy #4
Get student government involved in
addressing textbook cost.
Students care passionately about textbook
cost. Help them tune into what OER can do,
and enlist them to help mobilize support.
• Contact Student PIRGs, SPARC
• Fund OER pilots
• Lobby for course fee to replace
textbooks
✓
✓
✓
✓
Awareness
Faculty buy-in
Islands and isolation
Growing beyond a toehold
Bookstore
Departmental support
Administrative support
✓
✓
Overcome These Obstacles
✓

37. 3 7

38. Benefits of OER for the System
Students…
• Are more likely to use the resources: 56% of students surveyed used traditional
textbooks 2-3 times per month or less. 57% students in the MOST initiative used
their materials 2-3 times per week or more often.
• Believe the OER to be the same or better quality than traditional resources: 66%
students surveyed said quality was about the same, 27% students surveyed said it
was better.
• Prefer a course with OER over a course using traditional textbooks: 65% of
students surveyed, given the choice between a course that uses OER and one that
uses traditional textbooks, where all other variables are the same, would prefer
the course with OER.
• Are likely to enroll in other courses using OER: 88% students surveyed said they
were likely to enroll in another course that uses OER.
In addition to those direct benefits, indirect benefits of OER adoption have included:
• Student Access: Ensuring all students have full access to all learning materials from
day 1 of class to help them be prepared and successful.
• Faculty Control of Learning Materials: Giving faculty full control over the amount,
order, and content of learning materials.
• Faculty Collaboration: Collaboration with like-minded faculty also working with
OER.

39. Lumen Learning and Supporting
OER Adoption at Scale

40. 4 0
About Lumen Learning
Focus: Improve student success using OER
FOUNDERS: David Wiley & Kim
Thanos
MISSION: Scale effective use of OER
and personalized learning
• Improve access and quality
• Impact disadvantaged learners
• Create next generation OER
APPROACH: Model Openness
• Respect and built community
• Continuous improvement
• Openly license and share (CC-BY)
Formed in 2012
Based in Portland, OR
80+ institutional clients
27 team members
Support from Hewlett, Gates
& Shuttleworth Foundations
Facts

41. 4 1
Benefits of working with Lumen Learning
Learning
Design
Technology
Content
Support

42. 4 2
What does this really mean?
Learning
Design
Technology
Content
Support
Curated, updated content
License clearance & attribution
Ancillaries
Alignment with outcomes
Data-driven continuous
improvement
Faculty-student connection
LMS integration
Editing tools (5R’s)
Export to PDF and EPUB
Personalized learning capabilities
Faculty dashboard with recommendations

43. 4 3
Lumen-Supported OER Courses
Candela
Courses
Waymaker
Courses
OER Degree
Programs
Complete digital
courses: customizable
OER replace
traditional textbooks
Complete OER
courses with
personalized learning
tools and pedagogy
OER options for all
required courses and
electives in full degree
programs

44. 4 4
Candela Courses
A great starting point for adopting,
adapting and collaborating
Complete customization (5R’s)
Curated (best prior work of peers)
Quiz question banks and sample
assessments
Seamless LMS delivery
Faculty and tech support
$10 per student enrollment
65+ high-enrollment college subjects

45. 4 5
Waymaker Courses
OER courses with a
personalized learning approach
all features of Candela courses plus:
mastery learning
individualized feedback
learner agency & metacognition
faculty-student connection
$25 per student enrollment
Expanding course list

46. 4 6
Discussion and Q&A
Strategic Goals and Intersections with OER Adoption