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8 Colleges to Participate in OER Study

Eight colleges across the United States have been selected to take part in an Achieving the Dream (ATD) study on teaching and learning with open educational resources. The goal: to "understand whether and how faculty's use of OER leads to the adoption of new pedagogical strategies in the classroom," according to a news announcement. The research is being conducted in partnership with SRI Education.

"The idea for the Teaching and Learning with OER study emerged from data collected during ATD's OER Degree Initiative, a nationwide effort that examined the impact of OER-degree pathways at 38 community colleges," said Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream, in a statement. "Anecdotal interview data revealed that many faculty participating in the initiative began teaching in innovative ways after adopting OER. We are grateful to The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, one of five foundations that supported the OER Degree Initiative, for funding this important follow-up study."

The participating colleges are: Bay College, Foothill-De Anza College, Houston Community College, Kingsborough Community College, Montgomery College, Pima Community College, San Diego Mesa College and West Hills College Lemoore. Several of the institutions are members of the Achieving the Dream Network and participated in the prior OER Degree Initiative.

For the follow-up study, the researchers will conduct interviews and focus groups with students, faculty and administrators, observe OER classrooms during the 2021 spring and summer academic terms, and gather examples of innovative teaching practices in courses using openly licensed materials. The insights will be used to develop tools and resources to help faculty "effectively integrate new teaching practices" with OER, the announcement said. ATD and SRI plan to release a final report in early 2022.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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