The State of Openin Connecticut

Martha BedardVice Provost, UConn Library

Kevin CorcoranExecutive Director, CT Distance Learning Consortium

May 25, 2016

OER Awareness Among Faculty

OER Adoption: The Worst of Times and The Best of Times - Phil Hill (Oct. 31, 2014)

“OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.

OER Defined

- William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

OER Can Be …

full courses

course materials

modules

textbooks

streaming videos

tests

software

and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.”

- William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

What Faculty Are Using

Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2014

Why Does OER Matter?

Faculty Benefits • Access:

Supplement or replace current curriculum

Address student access/readiness/Day 1

Just-in-time materials

Appropriate copyright

• Customization:

Build your own resources from existing OER

Add localization/contextualization

Academic freedom –unbundle from publisher

• Collaboration:

Peer Review

Collaborative approaches to teaching/learning

License your own OER so others can use it

The Student Dilemma

“Whoa…and that was only the bill for my textbooks.”

Cost of Education

Page 6 GAO-13-368 College Textbooks

course materials may also be limited given their uniqueness to a particular course on a particular campus.

In 2005, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we reported that new college textbook prices had risen at twice the rate of annual inflation over the course of nearly two decades, increasing at an average of 6 percent per year and following close behind increases in tuition and fees.8

Figure 1: Estimated Increases in New College Textbook Prices, College Tuition and Fees, and Overall Consumer Price Inflation, 2002 to 2012

More recent data show that textbook prices continued to rise from

2002 to 2012 at an average of 6 percent per year, while tuition and fees increased at an average of 7 percent and overall prices increased at an average of 2 percent per year. As reflected in figure 1 below, new textbook prices increased by a total of 82 percent over this time period, while tuition and fees increased by 89 percent and overall consumer prices grew by 28 percent.

8These price increases occurred from December 1986 to December 2004. See GAO-05-806.

Pricing and Spending

US Government Accountability Office

CT Textbook Projections

CT Community College

General Psychology2011-2012

11,000 Students

$175 textbook

$1.9 Million

Textbook Costs vs. Student Success

60%+ do not purchase textbooks at

some point due to cost

35% take fewer courses due to

textbook cost

31% choose not to register for a

course due to textbook cost

23% regularly go without textbooks

due to cost

14% have dropped a course due

to textbook cost

10% have withdrawn from a course

due to textbook cost

Source: 2012 student survey by Florida Virtual Campus

Slide: CC-BY Cable Green, Creative Commons via http://www.project-kaleidoscope.org

Textbook Costs

Rental Costs

OER Costs

Most texts are under $50

to print

OER in Print

Student Action

OER @ UConn – Student Activism

UConnPIRG

Grassroots faculty commitment campaign

Promotion of “Open Textbooks: The Billion-Dollar Solution” – February, 2015

Release and press conference in Library on “Covering the Cost: Why we can no longer afford to ignore high textbook prices” – February, 2016

Participation in presentation to department chairs and workshops

OER @ UConn – Student Activism

Undergraduate Student GovernmentResolution requesting the formation of

an Open Source Textbook Task Force –Fall, 2014

Resolution on the “Importance of Submitting Textbook Requirements On Time” – March, 2015

Funded development of an open textbook in chemistry and host a symposium

OER @ UConn – Role of the University

UConn

Instituted and charged a ‘Task force on Affordable Textbooks’

Resolution “In Support of the Open Textbook Initiative” from both the Senate Student Welfare Committee and the full University Senate.

OER @ UConn – Role of the University

LibraryLed the University Task Force on Affordable

Textbooks

Created an OER initiatives staff position & Library working group

Online Resources Open.uconn.edu

Library Guide

OER @ UConn – Role of the University

Library Marketing & Publicity

OER @ UConn – Taskforce on Affordable Textbooks

Provided legislative feedback

Lobbied Senate Student Welfare Committee (resulting in the full senate resolution)

Hosted public programs

Faculty resource workshop – May 2015

Presentation to deans & department chairs– April 2015

Symposium – April 2016

OER @ UConn – Taskforce on Affordable Textbooks

Secured Davis Educational Foundation Grant Funding

Coordinated the writing and completion of open chemistry textbook which will be ready in fall, 2016 saving approximately 1,850 students over $450,000

OER @ UConn – Initiatives

• Surveyed faculty on knowledge, use, value and attitudes on OERs

• Launched a faculty incentive program • $250 to review an open textbook

• $1,000 to adopt an open textbook in a course

• Secured Provost funding to ‘buyout’ a faculty member to promote OERs

• Continued faculty development workshops

OER in CT – Legislation

Special Act 15-18: An Act Concerning The Use Of Digital Open-Source Textbooks In Higher Education

Open Textbook Pilot Study the Use of OER Build Awareness of OER Report Back to Legislation of Findings Establish OER Task Force for Best Practices

Signed into law July 2, 2015

Affordable College Textbook Act

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME)

• Propose a competitive grant program to support the creation and use of open college textbooks

• Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Representatives Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) and Jared Polis (D-CO).

• October 8, 2015

CT Success StoryProjected Savings 1 Academic Year: over $200,000

CSCU Math OER Project

Northeast OER Consortium

Mission & grant opportunities

Professional Development. The collection and development of training resources to support faculty, librarians, and administrators with the implementation of OER.

Modeling. The collection and development of standards, templates, and exemplar works to model successful OER implementation.

Collection. The collection and reporting of individual OER efforts, including the cataloging of assets developed in the region and open collaborations taking place.

Resources

Thank you!