How Do Open Educational Resources (OERs) Impact Students? A Qualitative Study at New York City College of Technology, CUNY

This thesis reports on findings from a study conducted with students using open educational resources as the primary course material in their Health Psychology course. The study took place at New York City College of Technology (City Tech), of the City University of New York (CUNY), a comprehensive college located in Brooklyn. Students were assigned the OER by their course instructor, who developed it as part of a library funded pilot initiative. Two research instruments were employed to collect qualitative data from students: a survey and one-on-one interviews with a smaller student sample. Both survey and interview items asked students how they engaged with the OER as the primary assigned course material. Students shared feedback about the overall organization of the OER, methods used to access the OER and complete coursework, ease of use, benefits and challenges, and differences and similarities to using a traditional print textbook. Findings indicate that the majority of students were able to access the OER with more ease than traditional textbooks given the multiple electronic devices they accessed the OER from. A small proportion of students encountered minor usability issues, but the most frequent challenge was difficulty gaining access to the OER via college wifi. The majority of students reported that the course readings were equal to or better than traditional textbooks, and responded positively to the variety of learning materials and assignments. Most students agreed they would be willing to register for a course offering a similar resource in the future

What Impacts do OER Have on Students? Students Share Their Experiences with a Health Psychology OER at New York City College of Technology

This article reports findings from a study conducted with students in three sections of a Health Psychology course that replaced a traditional textbook with open educational resources (OER) as the primary course material. The purpose of the study was to learn how OER impacted students. Data were collected in Fall 2015 with students from New York City College of Technology (City Tech), of the City University of New York (CUNY), a comprehensive college located in Brooklyn. Students were assigned the OER by their course instructor, who developed it as part of a library funded OER pilot initiative. Two research instruments were employed: one-on-one interviews and short surveys. Both interview and survey items asked students about how they engaged with the OER as their primary assigned course material. They shared feedback about the overall organization of the OER, ease of use, methods used to access the OER and complete coursework, benefits and challenges, and differences and similarities to using a traditional print textbook. Findings indicate that most students were able to access the OER more easily than traditional textbooks and responded positively to the variety of learning materials and assignments the OER assembled. Most students reported that course readings were equal to or better than traditional textbooks and would be willing to register for a course offering a similar resource in the future. A small amount of students reported minor usability issues. Also, few students had difficulties obtaining technology necessary to access the OER

OER Fellowship Seminars Syllabus

This syllabus originates from a faculty development program run by City Tech Library to support faculty to replace textbooks with no-cost open/alternative course materials

Impact of Open Educational Resources (OER) on Student Academic Performance and Retention Rates in Undergraduate Engineering Departments

To students and families already struggling to afford college tuition and fees, spending an additional $1,240 per year on books and supplies can be a breaking point. This cost constitutes as much as 39% of tuition and fees at a community college and 14% of tuition and fees at a four- year public institution (data obtained from the 2019-20 College Board survey for full-time undergraduate students). Moreover, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for digital textbooks is surging and the problem is compounded by the fact that without on-campus resources, including library reserve textbook collections, students are facing more barriers to access course content. Existing research also points to a negative impact on student grades, retention rates, and graduation time when there is lack of access to primary course materials. Open textbooks and open educational resources (OER) present a viable alternative to costly publisher content. Defined, open educational resources are teaching and learning materials freely available for everyone to use and are typically openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors. At New York City College of Technology – CUNY, the college’s library began an OER initiative in fall 2014 to introduce faculty to OER as an alternative to traditional textbooks, and since then faculty have adopted OER across 26 of 28 academic departments and 116 courses – alleviating great financial strain and increasing access to course materials. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the association between the use of OER in engineering programs and student academic performance and retention rates. Analysis of early data demonstrates that for course sections where OER was used, retention rates increased significantly, and withdrawal rates lowered significantly

Get on Your Feet and Up To Speed: Ways to Start-Up or Scale-Up an OER Initiative

How can you get started with or “scale-up” OER practices at your institution? And how will the library fit in? Two or three years ago, “OER Librarian” wasn’t even a title, but in a relatively short time librarians at all 24 campuses of the City University of New York (CUNY) have taken on a multitude of different roles to support OER initiatives. Each campus has come on board with its own timeline and developed its own structure and workflows to accomplish this work, in alignment with campus culture. While many have taken positions in support of individual faculty OER developers and become fierce advocates for open initiatives, the full range of how librarians contribute plays out very differently on each campus. At the same time, librarians collaborate across the campuses via an OER committee/working group overseen by the CUNY Office of Library Services, uniquely positioning us to observe and discuss best practices as well as the varying models of OER support. Join us for a panel featuring individual case studies and a facilitated conversation among CUNY OER librarians about developing, evolving, and scaling up OER initiatives at community colleges, four-year colleges, and graduate research institutions. We will explore questions such as: Which entity on campus is in the driver’s seat? How does intra-campus collaboration play out? What are the labor implications of these new initiatives for librarians and other faculty? Where do definitions of OER, ZTC (zero-textbook cost), and open pedagogy intersect and overlap

But What Do The Students Think: Results of the Cross-Campus Zero-Textbook Cost Student Survey

The results of the first cross-campus survey of student opinions on Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses are in: City University of New York (CUNY) students like their ZTC courses, primarily for the cost savings and ease of access. The survey results yield rich data about how positively students feel about their Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses as well as ways to improve the design and delivery of Zero Textbook Cost courses to make them more beneficial for student learning

When ‘Non-Instructional’ Librarians Teach: Navigating Faculty Status and Teaching Portfolios

This article shares individual and collective experiences from five faculty ranked librarians with roles outside of formal instruction who are employed at an academic institution in the United States, and their approach to developing and embracing a teacher identity in the context of their professional trajectory. The article explores how the authors prepared to be evaluated against traditional classroom teaching for promotion by forming a cohort-based group to support “noninstructional” librarians to create a teaching portfolio, and how they approached teaching from liminal and, at times, tenuous positions and career stages. Authors conclude that the process challenged and expanded their perceptions of librarians and their own roles by revealing essential teaching functions performed regularly, regardless of their “non-teaching” title. Furthermore, developing a teaching portfolio has additional value in supporting the profession at large and demonstrating the essential role of the library at higher education institutions

But What Do The Students Think: Results of the CUNY Cross-Campus Zero-Textbook Cost Student Survey

The results of the first cross-campus survey of student opinions on Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses are in: City University of New York (CUNY) students like their ZTC courses, primarily for the cost savings and ease of access. The survey results yield rich data about how positively students feel about their Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses as well as ways to improve the design and delivery of Zero Textbook Cost courses to make them more beneficial for student learning

What Impacts do OER Have on Students? Students Share Their Experiences with a Health Psychology OER at New York City College of Technology

This article reports findings from a study conducted with students in three sections of a Health Psychology course that replaced a traditional textbook with open educational resources (OER) as the primary course material. The purpose of the study was to learn how OER impacted students. Data were collected in Fall 2015 with students from New York City College of Technology (City Tech), of the City University of New York (CUNY), a comprehensive college located in Brooklyn. Students were assigned the OER by their course instructor, who developed it as part of a library funded OER pilot initiative. Two research instruments were employed: one-on-one interviews and short surveys. Both interview and survey items asked students about how they engaged with the OER as their primary assigned course material. They shared feedback about the overall organization of the OER, ease of use, methods used to access the OER and complete coursework, benefits and challenges, and differences and similarities to using a traditional print textbook. Findings indicate that most students were able to access the OER more easily than traditional textbooks and responded positively to the variety of learning materials and assignments the OER assembled. Most students reported that course readings were equal to or better than traditional textbooks and would be willing to register for a course offering a similar resource in the future. A small amount of students reported minor usability issues. Also, few students had difficulties obtaining technology necessary to access the OER