OER Courses at CTC: Planning through Evaluation and Beyond

1. OER Courses at CTC Planning through Evaluation and Beyond

2. Introduction • Sharon Davis • Dean of Educational Technology • Distance Education and Educational Technology • Central Texas College • Sharon.davis@ctcd.edu

3. CTC • Website http://www.ctcd.edu • Two year community college located in Killeen TX across the highway from Ft. Hood • Serves students around the world • Employs faculty and staff around the world

4. Distance Education and Educational Technology(DEET ) • Website http://online.ctcd.edu • Responsible for distance education and educational technology • Three subdivisions • Instructional Development • Technical Support • Systems Engineering

5. Course Development • More than 450 master courses. • DEET Instructional Design Specialists (IDS) collaborate with Content Reviewers (CR) to develop, revise, and maintain master courses. • Course Support Specialists (CSS) copy content into Blackboard for f2f, blended, and online courses.

6. Enrollments • Multiple start dates • Major start dates • August 27, 2018 • 12,281 enrollments in 562 online sections • 12,505 enrollments in 657 f2f sections • January 14, 2019 • 10,603 enrollments in 533 online sections • 11,058 enrollments in 679 f2f sections

7. CTC/DEET OER Initiative • Summer 2018: Feasibility Task Force of Faculty and Staff • August 2018:Commenced course development • October 2018: Pilot tested ENGL 1301 and 1302 and CJSA 1308

8. 2019 • Spring: 10 OER courses • Communications—ENGL and SPCH (5) • Fine Arts—HUMA and MUSI (2) • Science—PHYS (2) with labs • Protective Services--CJSA (1) • Fall: Total of 35+ OER courses

9. Potholes and Detours • Lack of OERs for certain disciplines. • Licensure requirements for some disciplines. • Instructor resources limited. • Links must be verified frequently. • Some students and faculty prefer print materials.

10. Solutions and Successes • Compiling list of resources for OERs • Better understanding of Creative Commons licenses • Developed and published information on OERs for faculty and students • Identified reliable survey system in Blackboard • Some departments almost complete. • Additional course sections required.

11. OER Resources • OpenStax at https://openstax.org/ • Open Textbook Library at https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/11 • Merlot at https://www.merlot.org/merlot/ • Browser search using key words + OER

12. Goals • OER choices from all Core Courses categories. • Identify/develop OER content for courses in all disciplines. • Create master courses for OERs to ensure consistency for all delivery methods. • Analyze data to identify areas for improvement.

13. Recommended Best Practices • Look for textbooks that are available in a variety of formats. • Check Creative Commons license for restrictions and requirements. • Search for instructor and student resources. • Minimize links.

14. DATA • Overall summary of Spring 2019 and Summer 2019 surveys • Students • 1,149 responses • 95% positive or neutral • Faculty • 62 responses • 85% positive or neutral

15. Student Surveys

16. Student Surveys

17. Student Surveys

18. Student Comments • The OER textbook was AWESOME! I was confused at first because this was the first time I have not had to pay for a textbook. I was able to save it to my computer and cloud drive so to access from my phone and study as a passenger in a vehicle or waiting in a line somewhere public. Being able to access from my work computer a few times was great too. The cost of education has gotten out of hand. OER are a great way to help reduce the amount of education debt accrued and helps make earning a degree a little easier financially for students. Thank you CTC for recognizing this and taking action. I sincerely hope other schools take notice and do the same. • I am a student with challenges reading things in print and I am absolutely happy that a free PDF book is included with this class. Not only does it keep the cost of education down, but helps me see my book and start classes on time. In the past, I had to go through great lengths to get a PDF book on CD from CTC's Disabilities Support Services. I had to buy an actual book, turn in my receipt to DSS, then wait for them to order the book from whichever company. Even though I always turned my receipts in with plenty of time to spare before the start of any given class, my PDF books were often late. Playing "catch up" at the start of class can be frustrating. The new OER PDF book saves me so much eye strength and literal headaches from eye strain! Thank you so much! I believe this is a valuable resource for those with either financial or vision challenges or both.

19. Student Comments • Cost was good but I like having a book at hand • Get textbooks the teacher likes.

20. Instructor Surveys

21. Instructor Surveys

22. Instructor Surveys

23. Instructor Surveys

24. Instructor Surveys

25. Instructor Comments • While a surprise, the new OER was certainly adequate • The students liked the materials and were anxious to finish their work. • This is my first time using OER at CTC, and students don’t seem to have run into any issues using the textbook. I believe having a free textbook and an easy to access link to the material has made things very straightforward for my students.

26. Instructor Comments • Request instructor guides for the OER textbooks. • I was shocked to see the change from one of the most popular textbooks in the field to one that I never heard of simply because students dislike purchases school supplies. That the textbook industry charges ridiculous amounts for books is a problem. But the OER is not the answer to a poorly regulated industry standard.