OER Fellowship, Year 1 2024-2025

While all the reports are incredibly helpful, the highlights for me were:  

• Initial reports had higher response rates (mentioned in From Affordability to Strategic Success: The Progression of OER in Texas Higher Education) and I am interested to hear why y’all think that is! Personally, I first thought of the massive amount of turnover in education during and after the pandemic and the assumption of reporting done by other/third parties (like the providers of automatic textbook billing programs). 

• I loved the interview themes from the Texas Open Educational Resources (OER) Regional Needs Analysis - and appreciated the acknowledgement of the staggering number of people that need education around OER as indicated by the laggard adoption figure and text. 

• Throughout a number of the reports, but especially Advancing an Ecosystem for Open Educational Resources: OER in Texas Higher Education, I noticed the assumption of knowledge management and shared data governance policies, how else would the people completing the survey have all the information then need to do so. 

I have other thoughts, too, but I’d like to hear what y’all think first!  

1) Advancing an Ecosystem for Open Educational Resources

It was good to see the progress of OER adoption throughout the state. The report highlighted areas of strength and areas in which we still need to grow. I was glad to see the report speak to the role of systems thinking and change management in OER adoption. All college stakeholders have to be involved (at various levels), not just faculty, but library, admin, IT, etc. Awareness building is still needed. It appears that most institutions do not offer incentives for OER adoption. Would incentives be helpful? What might that look like? Should more state level incentives be made available?

2) A Scan of Open Educational Resources (OER) Materials

"The ISKME analysis identified at least one OER course or textbook for each high-priority course. This means that overall, there are no complete OER “gaps” for these 25 courses." This is wonderful to see. It appears that many introductory courses have OER texts available. There are still some gaps when it comes to advanced courses. There is a need for peer-reviewed textbooks. I have run into this problem myself as it can affect the quality of the textbook when it has not been properly reviewed. Interestingly, it was debated whether traditional peer review methods are appropriate for OER texts. Lack of ancillary material. Could grad students helps us develop PPT slides, quizzes, etc.?

3) From Affordability to Strategic Success

Adoption drivers for OER were interesting. We are moving beyond affordabilty to also consider impact of OER on students' learning experience. Perhaps we could do more to bring students in to help with OER momentum. They are significant stakeholders to this whole effort. At the institution level, there seems to be less admin-related OER roles. It is shifting to librarians, who have been quite successful. This is a positive as staff have the opportunity to participate and help move things forward. A challenge is publisher-driven contractual agreements. Has anyone had a conversation with their bookstore about OER adoption at a large scale level?

1. Open Educational Resources (OER) in Texas Higher Education

The number one issue continuously identified by faculty when asked about their hesitancy to adopt OER is the lack of time and resources to dedicate to updating course material and creating ancillary materials. This was echoed by the report's findings that there continues to be a gap in identifying new and external sources of funding for OER work. Our college has taken advantage of grant funds, but these do not provide for the time required after the OER is developed for updates, edits, etc. I would like to see colleges and universities not just embrace OER, but dedicate efforts to identify viable sources of funding for the continued work beyond adoption. 

2. From Affordability to Strategic Success: The Progression of OER in Texas Higher Education

The implications and conclusions discussion highlights findings indicating a shift in OER adoption efforts "from policy mandates to a staff-led approach." I wonder if this relates to contractual agreements with bookstores as the article suggests. More research in this area would be interesting. Institutions talk about lowering the cost of attendance without looking to one of the major factors (textbooks) contributing to this cost. I would also be interested in learning if and how textbook publishers are responding. 

3. A Scan of Open Educational Resources (OER) Materials in High-Impact Higher Education Courses in Texas

Findings from this research indicate "there are no complete OER gaps for the 25 courses" identified as high-impact. Further, "the amount of OER and the quality of OER varied from course to course." This has been what is most concerning and frustrating for me in my own discipline. In many cases, content is outdated, poorly written, or some combination of the two. What can be done to not only incentivize experts to contribute to OER work, but also establish quality checks to ensure the material is suitable and acceptable for use by faculty?

From Affordability to Strategic Success:

• In 2023, there has been decreased emphasis on specialized positions and top-down policies to adopt OER. The de-emphasis on policy development might be due to institutions pursuing alternative initiatives such as automatic textbook billing programs. Moving forward, we may want to consider how we can support institutional creation of specialized positions to help support this work and advocate for policy development on their campuses.
• The survey has shown that there has been widespread awareness of OER initiatives, but strikingly low efforts to actively promote these on campuses. It’s important to note that those who are filling out the survey are most likely to be aware of these opportunities, but they may not have the resources or capacity to spread the word to their stakeholders. This could be an opportunity for the THECB to actively support campuses in promotional efforts by providing ready-made marketing materials.
• Larger institutions are more inclined to prioritize student engagement with OER, incorporating open pedagogy into institutional goals. How can we provide support to smaller institutions to engage in this type of work?

A Scan of OER Materials in High Impact Courses

• There is a need for more robust metadata associated with OER materials, such as accurate publication dates (as well as when items were last updated). Additionally, details regarding how remixed/revised OER have been adapted would be helpful to distinguish remixes/adaptations from duplicates. Libraries are well-positioned to provide this kind of support, but this is an ongoing challenge.

Texas OER Regional Analysis

• In August 2022 when this report was published, there was very little regional-level collaboration. (Examples of collaborations included: collaborations with institutions in the same college district/system, other institutions outside the college district/system, involvement in national or international OE organizations, and involvement in student success initiatives.) I am curious to learn more about how this might have changed over time, and if we are now seeing more collaborative initiatives across different regions. How can we develop strategies and pool resources to encourage greater collaboration both within and across institutions?

Advancing an Ecosystem for Open Educational Resources: OER in Texas Higher Education

The above resource indicates that by 2021, 62% of the institutions surveyed had formal policies. Of them, 63% had no written definition of OER, while Language, technology, and lack of incentives. The library is also essential in advancing the OER initiatives, and time was among the obstacles observed in implementing OER. There was also an indication of plans underway to employ OER librarians to champion that more. The question we now need to ask about going forward is how these institutions have been doing since then. What have they achieved? What challenges are they facing in their implementation of OER?

Open Educational Resources (OER) in Texas Higher Education, 2019

Just like in the first instance, there is a similarity between institutions that have implemented OER policies and the department leading these initiatives. In this survey. A total of 51% of institutions indicated that they either have formal OER policies and programs in place or are in the process of developing them. Forty-seven percent (or 46) of institutions have a centralized office, committee, or role that oversees or leads their OER work. Based on the responses, the library-led committee was ranked highest. This means the library becomes a key stakeholder in any OER initiative and should be supported to drive the OER agenda on campus.

Texas Open Educational Resources (OER) Regional Needs Analysis

This work recommends professional learning, funding, awareness creation, quality assurance, and data support for OER advancement at Texas institutions. Quality assurance cannot be overemphasized more. We need policies to support this area. This work also provides room for our thoughts as we build on our capstone projects. 

Research Insights from Advancing an Ecosystem for Open Educational Resources: OER in Texas Higher Education, 2021.

Support for open education/pedagogy
The majority of institutions also continue to utilize OER as a mechanism to increase student engagement with course materials (68%) and to support open pedagogical practices (59%). These percentages are consistent with the 2019 data on goals for OER use across Texas.

Support for faculty academic freedom
55% (60) are using OER to support faculty academic freedom in their curriculum decisions.

Growing Institutional collaboration
Specific collaboration projects named by survey respondents include cross-institutional OER working groups, cross-library partnerships (e.g., Texas Digital Libraries OER Ambassadors program), participation in student success initiatives (e.g., Affordable Learning initiative), and projects to develop discipline-specific OER across institutions.

Faculty incentives and motivation
Institutions are also offering incentives to encourage OER use by faculty, although the percentage of institutions offering incentives has decreased over time—from 51% (49) in 2019 to 40% (42) in 2021.

Focus on OER creation
When asked on a separate question about the top supports or factors needed to advance OER adoption and use, the largest percentage of institutions (70% or 76) identified the need for increased buy-in and awareness by faculty. Close to half of all institutions additionally reported a need for access to OER in specific disciplines, and for reward-based incentives for faculty to use OER.

Texas Open Educational Resources (OER) Regional Needs Analysis 2023

• This was the only document that used the word "tenure." The mention came under Interview Theme 3: Faculty buy-in is critical to OER growth. "Many two-year institutions interviewed did not have a tenure system, so there was no way to encourage OER creation or adoption though tenure policies, but they did have other forms of faculty evaluation they believed could align with getting 'credit' for OER creation.
• This same excerpt also highlighted a number of methods that respondents thought were effective in promoting OER adoption, which could help inform OER librarians of strategies and events they could adopt:
  • Faculty are invested in lowering student costs, but need professional development or student voices / testimonials to support their understanding of OER.
  • Discipline-specific presentations that introduced available OER in their field to professors would be extremely helpful.
  • One institution noted that a lot of faculty buy-in was achieved through presentations from Lumen Learning.
  • It is important to address faculty concerns about OER quality, and plans to maintain and update the resource to keep current.
  • Teaching faculty about the OER peer review process is critical to buy-in.

Advancing an Ecosystem for Open Educational Resources: OER in Texas Higher Education

• Echoing what others have said, I really appreciated the systems-based approach described on p.23:
  • "The 2021 survey data further reveal that those leading the way in the implementation of OER-based courses, policies, and programs appear to be taking a systems-based approach to OER by engaging multiple offces and roles across campus—from students, to Faculty Excellence Center staff, Digital Learning staff, and Library staff. Institutions that are engaging cross-offce roles and staff around OER are also demonstrating other, advanced OER practices, including participating in partnerships with external educational institutions on OER, allocating funding for OER, collecting OER impact data, and working to build student awareness of OER through targeted strategies."
  • This seems almost like a description of an OER utopia – of how things should work when the entire institution and all of its constituent parts are on board and enthusiastic about OER promotion.

From Affordability to Strategic Success: The Progression of OER in Texas Higher Education

• I felt this quote from the Executive Summary (iv.) was interesting, yet also rather vague in its definition:
  • "The 2023 survey, to which 78 institutions responded, continued to provide insights into the evolving dynamics of OER adoption across Texas. Results of the survey signaled a persistent commitment to OER adoption, with 63% of institutions either having established formal OER policies and programs or actively developing them, up from 62% in 2021 and 51% in 2019."
• I especially enjoyed this point from the Implications and Conclusions section (18), which encourages our conversations to move beyond the affordability argument:
  • "The 2023 survey findings also signal a shift in OER adoption drivers. While affordability remains a key factor, there is an increased recognition of OER’s potential to positively impact student learning experiences. In particular, large institutions in 2023 prioritized heightened student engagement, those with a substantial PELL recipient population emphasized inclusivity through diverse materials, and four-year institutions focused on open pedagogy, indicating a trend toward collaborative teaching methods and resource-sharing among faculty. This diversity in goals highlights the adaptability and versatility of OER to meet the specific needs of various institutions, showcasing its potential to influence teaching and learning across the higher education landscape in Texas in multifaceted ways."
  • To really maximize OER adoption rates, I feel that those leading the charge need to recognize the increasing diversity of reasons faculty do adopt OER, and not simply default first and most forcefully to the cost / affordability argument. Emphasizing increased engagement, inclusivity / diversity, and open pedagogy could have a greater impact on OER skeptics, especially when paired with actual data supporting these conclusions. This could help reframe the conversation while also tamping down persistent questions about OER quality.

The Guiding Questions for OER Institutional Needs Assessment is a good starting point for institutions needing to identify stakeholders, identify campus divisions to conduct the needs assessment, identify the scope of the assessment, and approaches to using data for the assessment.  I feel this is a good starting point for assessing institutional needs. As part of our DOERS3 work at UTSA, we conducted a more extensive DOERS3 gap analysis to identify areas where we either had no data or needed to be collecting data. 

The Regional Needs Analysis could be used to identify other institutions that may have progressed in other areas where your institution needs to grow with OER.  I could see using this tool as a starting point for identifying and reaching out to other institutions to share strategies and resources for areas where your institution may be weak but another institution is strong. 

The Scan of Open Educational Resources Materials in High Impact Higher Education Courses in Texas could be used to identify OER for 25 high enrollment courses at your institution. You could add these resources to a LibGuide for faculty teaching these courses for consideration of adoption/implementation.