Thinking About OER Beyond Cost Savings

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Dr. Brett McCollum

• Abstract
  The adoption of quality OERs is reshaping HiEd classrooms, lowering the cost and furthering the democratization of learning. However, there is also a movement of disengagement with text-based learning that threatens to undermine the impact of open textbooks. Most learners are no longer reading for class or leisure (McCollum, 2018). When course content is summarized through lecture slides, learners express little incentive to read the textbook (Yonker & Cummins-Sebree, 2009). If no one is reading the course textbook, its democratization does not have the intended impact.

  In this session, I will share results from an iterative pedagogical redesign to motivate improved reading habits and familiarity with course terminology and communication styles (McCollum, 2016). I will discuss my experience participating in the OER community (Larsen et al., 2017), my strategies for re-engaging students with their textbook, and my research that shows it is peer relationships – more so than course content – that incentivizes good reading habits (McCollum & Morsch, submitted). Along the way, we will explore why experts in teaching and learning advocate for the continued inclusion of text-based learning in the modern classroom. We will also examine the purpose of the textbook in the learning experience and how OERs can benefit students in more ways than just their wallets.

  Dr. Brett McCollum is a Professor of Chemistry at Mount Royal University, a Nexen Scholar of Teaching and Learning, an Apple Distinguished Educator, and a software developer. His research focuses on effective uses of technology for teaching and learning, chemistry language learning, open education resources, and research partnerships with students. His teaching duties have encompassed general chemistry, organic, inorganic, physical, nuclear, and spectroscopy.

  McCollum is the recipient of the ACIFA Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award (2012), Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award (2015), MRFA Teaching Award (2016), and MRU Distinguished Faculty Award (2017). He has also served as the Acting Academic Director of the Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

  The Centre for Teaching and Learning would like to acknowledge the Vargo Teaching Chair program for funding this visit.

• Date created

  2020-03-05

• Subjects / Keywords

  • oer, open, pedagogy, flipped, active, learning, open educational resource, textbook

• Type of Item

  Conference/Workshop Presentation

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-av6p-2p54

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International