August 18,听2020听
Story听by听Brandon Steinert听
Courtesy Photo Submitted听
A dozen different courses at听91快活林听are now offered with no textbook costs听thanks to an effort by instructors to shift to other types of resources. The movement in higher education is called Open Educational Resources (OER). At Barton, it鈥檚 referred to as low-cost and no-cost. Low cost means there might be fees for materials or a book, but it would be less than $50.听听
According to the William听and Flora Hewlett听Foundation website,听Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the creative commons and/or public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their use and repurposing by others. OER may include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests (etc)听used to support access to knowledge.听
Barton听Director of Innovation and Compliance听Lee Miller said this听new approach听to classroom resources has听many advantages.听
鈥淥ER听can not only help reduce the cost of education for students, but also opens up听other learning听opportunities for students and faculty alike within the structure of the classroom,鈥 Miller said.听
History Instructor Daniel Buller听teaches four of听Barton鈥檚听12听OER-certified classes with no textbook costs. He said he听is听motivated to make education less costly to students听and is proud to be a part of a forward-thinking institution.听听
鈥淎lthough it has been a decade since I鈥檝e been in college, I remember worrying about the cost of tuition and textbooks,鈥澨鼴uller听said. 鈥淚 have been impressed with Barton鈥檚 innovation. I think Barton has been ahead on the curve since the days when online education was getting started, and they have kept that tradition going.鈥澨
Prior to the switch to OER,听Buller听was using an assortment of textbooks, primary source readings, and documentaries to teach听his听classes, but听started switching to OER this year, which he said affords听freedom for instructors to emphasize important pieces of history, whereas adhering to a textbook leaves most of the interpretation up to the book鈥檚 author.听
鈥淲hen you use someone else鈥檚 textbook, you use the stories they see as important,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 might include or emphasize a particular story that another teacher would not.鈥澨
The main challenge with free or affordable resources is finding the content, which he said just takes a little work.听
鈥淭hey are out there; you just have to go looking,鈥 he said.听鈥淭he best part about OER classes is once I do find a great resource, it鈥檚 much less work for me."
Prior to the OER approach, he听would听read books on every major topic covered in his class, then听write lectures and film them to teach the class.听听
鈥淚听might as well just assign them the textbook if I'm just going to regurgitate it to them in the form of a video lecture. That means I'm reading a book on such things as Jamestown, the Pilgrims, Colonial America, the Revolutionary War, the Mexican War, politics in America from 1789 to 1877, slavery in colonial America and the early republic, the Civil War, Reconstruction, etc. I would also try and read,听or at least consult,听a biography on every president. That's a lot of reading for me in order to feel like I'm creating something unique in my lectures for my students.听听
鈥淣ow I've decided to use OER textbooks to basically听share the material with students, and then in my interactions with them through discussions, assessments,听etcetera,听I use my knowledge from all the reading I do to create something unique and try to make history interesting.鈥澨
Buller鈥檚 current OER-certified courses include Military History/American Civil War, Military History/American Revolution, American History to 1877 and Western Civilization to 1500.听
The college has embraced the听OER听concept as part of its culture, as Barton鈥檚 faculty are working on moving dozens of courses to OER-certified status听and Miller is excited for other instructors to start utilizing OER as well.听
鈥淲e have amazing faculty here at Barton willing to jump on board for this new initiative,鈥澨齅iller听said.听鈥淲ith around 50 faculty currently working on OER adoption, Buller serves as a great representative of the work they are doing. He has been diligent, detailed, and resourceful in his work during these course transitions.鈥澨
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