Open Educational Resources (OER)

The primary goal of this study was to explore the ways in which the use of OER leads to the adoption of more open and culturally responsive instructional practices and how these changes affect students, especially those from historically marginalized and underserved backgrounds. We opted to employ descriptive and exploratory methods given the broad variation in ways in which practitioners conceptualize and enact these practices.
This study sought to answer the following research questions:
1. How do community college faculty and staff conceptualize OEP, and to what extent does this conceptualization emphasize the use of OER and culturally responsive practices?
2. How did a selected group of innovative instructors use OER materials to redesign their courses using open and culturally responsive practices? What types of teaching practices were observed in these courses?
3. How did the use of OEP enabled by OER affect students’ perceptions of their learning, sense of belonging, agency, and engagement?
4. What college institutional policies and practices support or impede implementation of OER-enabled OEP and culturally responsive practices?
The study took place in two phases from fall 2020 through fall 2021 and involved 64 participants at eight community colleges representing a range of geographical locations in the United States.
Report compiled by SRI Education and Achieving the Dream.

This paper and the recommended practices in it were developed for those who engage in OER efforts at the campus and university system levels. It is our hope that the principles and practices herein will enable such OER stakeholders and practitioners to calculate and communicate with more clarity and consistency the ROI of OER implementation.
Prepared by Katie Zaback, Zaback Consulting LLC in partnership with MHEC and the National Consortium for Open Education Resources, with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.