Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College Open Textbooks

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This paper presents the results of collaborative research between open textbook provider OpenStax College (OSC) and the OER Research Hub (OERRH), a Hewlett funded mixed methods open research project examining the impact of open educational resources (OER) on learning and teaching. The paper focuses primarily on the results of two surveys that were conducted with educators using a range of OSC open textbooks during 2013 and 2014/2015. The results of this research shows that OER such as OSC enables a majority of educators to better respond to student needs whilst often making teaching easier and in some instances changing teaching practices. Although this paper does not focus on the impact of OER on students, a majority of educators surveyed perceive an increase in student satisfaction when using OER such as OSC and believe that OSC are saving students money.

Material Type: Reading

Author: Rebecca Pitt

Fundamentals of Social Research

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A social/behavioral science research methods text appropriate for a first course. The focus is on writing and using the APA Style.

Material Type: Textbook

Author: Adam J. McKee

Open Textbooks using OER Commons Open Author Tool

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This is a supplementary video to support the Commonwealth of Learning's Open Textbook Manual. It shows you how to use the OER Commons Open Author Tool to create Open Textbooks.

Material Type: Lecture

Author: Andrew Moore

Open Textbooks using OER Commons Lesson Builder Tool

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This is a supplementary video for the Commonwealth of Learning Open Textbook Manual. It shows how to create Lessons in OER Commons. The OER Commons Lesson Builder allows instructors to create resources that are viewable by students as lessons, and by teachers as lesson plans with supplemental instructional resources.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know

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This is a five-step guide for faculty, and those who support faculty, who want to modify an open textbook. Step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook file and platform types are included.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Authors: Amy Hofer, Anita Walz, Annie Johnson, Cheryl Cuillier, Karen Lauritsen, Kathleen Labadorf, Peter Potter, Richard Saunders

Guide to Developing Open Textbooks

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This how to guide has been developed to assist teachers, teaching support personnel and educational technology administrators to: understand the value of open education, OER and open textbooks for teaching and learning; appreciate the potential value of developing an open textbook platform; select appropriate technology to build an open textbook platform, using either existing services offered free on the Internet or open-source tools, based on local needs and resources; and build, manage and maintain an open textbook platforms.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Authors: Andrew Moore, Neil Butcher