Dr. Porter made some great points during his session which really made me reflect on education today and for the future. Currently, education is facing some critical issues for both students and faculty. Education should be equal access to all; however, when you look at the tuition fees for students in Ontario, they are the highest in Canada. According to Nour Alideeb, a Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario and who spoke during a panel discussion at the 7th Annual Tommy Douglas Institute, 70% of jobs require post secondary education. So, how are students going to access if funding (OSAP) is being cut/changed? Thus, alternatives need to be considered to increase access to all.
The use of open educational resources (OER) particularly open textbooks is growing to address access. “OER can be used to increase access to learning for those living in unfavourable circumstances and can also be used to address issues of cost, quality, and equity” (McGreal, 2017, p. 292). Because OER are free of licensing restrictions and are openly available, they can be reused, revised, remixed, redistributed and retained (Wiley, 2014, as cited by McGreal, 2017). This means that OER can be adapted to various learning environments, translated to different languages, and modified to address the needs of all learners.
Dr. Porter (2019) reported that the use of open textbooks in Ontario have saved students $4 million so far and that number is still growing. The B.C. Open Textbook Project in December 2018 achieved “over $10 million in savings for students through known adoptions in B.C” (Beattie, 2019, para. 9). Although there are cost savings to students, there are other costs that must be considered which are the salaries and time of the OER creators, adapters and the assemblers (McGreal, 2017, p. 293). However, McGreal (2017) continues to say that “these costs can be significantly reduced by sharing OER with other institutions” (p. 293). Nonetheless, with the adoption of the digital open textbooks, a technological infrastructure is required as well as a trained support staff for both faculty and students (which is still the same cost as using commercial content) (McGreal, 2017).
My inquiry continues…
References:
Beattie, E. (2019). Canada OER Group – 2019 Update. Retrieved from https://bccampus.ca/2019/02/19/canada-oer-group-2019-update/
Chow, O., Alideeb, N., Barlow, M., Clarke, J., Hope, K., & Mochama, V. (2019). Panel on Envisioning A Peoples’ Centred Economy. Panel presented at The 7th Annual Tommy Douglas Institute: Poverty, Populism, Planet: Envisioning Economic Justice, Toronto, ON.
McGreal, R. (2017). Special report on the role of open educational resources in supporting the sustainable development goal 4: Quality education challenges and opportunities. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 18(7) Retrieved from https://ezproxy.royalroads.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/docview/2009106975?accountid=8056
Porter, David. (2019). What will the EdTech renaissance look like? Retrieved from https://ecampusontario.zoom.us/recording/play/yE_j1RGxLol0Ad-Afk2LOJtxVHbeEse0xOL0_a-gZFZqLq08PQKWwMhMB9-VOb4P?continueMode=true