I was first introduced to open pedagogy and open educational resources (OER) like open textbooks in our MALAT program through the virtual symposium sessions in April 2018. My curiosity and interest grew as I spoke with others in my cohort and during conferences like the Digital Pedagogy Lab and the CSHS Digital Education for a Digital World at George Brown College.
With the introduction of e-textbooks in our dental hygiene program in September and finding out that some of the e-textbooks were still as high as the traditional print textbooks. Since open textbooks have been implemented in many colleges and universities in many different courses. I was curious to find out if open textbooks are the answer to our issue.
For my inquiry, I have considered the Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory which looks at five characteristics: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability (Rogers & Ellsworth, 1997). Research studies on diffusion demonstrate that innovations that are not complex, advantageous to the users, visibly beneficial, user friendly and easy to trial, “would lead to a more extensive and faster diffusion than an innovation with the opposite characteristics” (Dillon & Morris, 1996, as cited by Du Plessis & Wiese, 2014). Therefore, when looking at the features, benefits and challenges of each of the textbook formats (open digital and open print textbooks, e-textbooks and traditional print textbooks), would one of these be preferred over another to be effective in learning for all students? While there are many studies showing that open textbooks have been beneficial to the students by lowering costs thus increasing accessibility for all students, there have been some studies which are demonstrating that there are costs (i.e. wages of faculty, librarians, designers) to the institutions to create and implement the open textbooks.
References:
Du Plessis, G., & Wiese, M. (2014). The battle of the e-textbook: Libraries’ role in facilitating student acceptance and use of e-textbooks. South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science,80(2), 17-26. doi:10.7553/80-2-1509
Rogers, E., & Ellsworth, J. (1997). Diffusion of innovations. Educational Technology Research and Development. 45(4), 91.
Good point about the hidden costs of OER – Tony Bates for instance estimated that it costs in a range of $81-130K CAD to develop an open textbook: https://www.tonybates.ca/2015/06/08/the-cost-of-developing-an-open-textbook-80000-130000/ . He carefully qualifies this number, but it’s a good prompt for a necessary conversation. There is also the question of much volunteer academic and support labour in developing OER, with the thought that with increased mainstreaming of open educational practices, this needs to be recognized and compensated as part of academic work, as well as taken into account for promotion and tenure. Along with many other forums, this discussion has been underway in the Rebus community, a platform for the development of open textbooks. From the introduction: “OER work is hard work—and valuable work—but it is too often undervalued, under-compensated, and hidden from sight. The notion of doing OER ‘stuff’ on the side, in addition to a heavy load of formal duties, is all too familiar, and the emotional investment from many of us is considerable. Much of the movement’s progress has been driven by the passion and commitment of people willing to go the extra mile, but what is the impact of this reliance on invisible and unpaid labour? How does it affect our ability to build a more inclusive and equitable open education framework in the long term? How does it limit participation? What are the implications for sustainability in the ecosystem, including establishing business models? And how might we commit to moving forward with more recognition and value of the labour invested in OER development?” (Rebus, 2019) https://www.rebus.community/t/office-hours-the-invisible-labour-of-oer-25-april-2019-2pm-est-6pm-utc/1221
Far from creating barriers to OER development and use in education, this type of recognition is necessary to move OER from the side of the desk to the front of the institutional strategic and operational plan. Thanks, Joyce, for bringing up this important side of OER.