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ERIC Number: ED572730
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Oct
Pages: 52
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2014
Allen, I. Elaine; Seaman, Jeff
Babson Survey Research Group
Awareness and adoption of open educational resources (OER) has yet to enter the mainstream of higher education. Most faculty remain unaware of OER, and OER is not a driving force for faculty decisions about which educational materials to adopt. This report builds on several previous Babson Survey Research Group efforts exploring the role of OER in higher education. The current research is designed to do two things: determine if the previous results observed among higher education teaching faculty have changed over time, and explore the factors driving these trends in more depth. A nationally representative faculty sample is used in this analysis--designed to be representative of the overall range of faculty teaching in U.S. higher education. A total of 2,144 faculty responded to the survey, representing the full range of higher education institutions (two-year, four-year, all Carnegie classifications, and public, private nonprofit, and for-profit) and the complete range of faculty (full- and part-time, tenured or not, and all disciplines). The responses were compared for 35 unique categories based on the 2005 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Key findings include: (1) Faculty are not very aware of open educational resources; (2) Faculty appreciate the concepts of OER; (3) Awareness of OER is not a requirement for adoption of OER; (4) Faculty judge the quality of OER to be roughly equivalent to that of traditional educational resources (5) The most significant barrier to wider adoption of OER remains a faculty perception of the time and effort required to find and evaluate it; and (6) Faculty are the key decision makers for OER adoption. Tables are appended.
Babson Survey Research Group. Babson College, 231 Forest Street, Babson Park, MA 02457. Tel: 909-278-7389; Web site: http://www.babson.edu/Academics/centers/blank-center/global-research/Pages/babson-survey-research-group.aspx
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Authoring Institution: Babson Survey Research Group; Pearson
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A