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IntroductionOpen educational resources (OERs) provide instructors access to no-cost lesson materials they can incorporate into their courses. OER lessons can promote the use of innovative and evidence-based educational practices in biology education. Prior research suggests that teaching strategies are often implemented in different ways which can impact student learning. However, few studies have explored how OER lessons are modified to fit their local context. MethodsWe used the teacher-curriculum framework to understand how and why instructors modify these materials. Additionally, we explored how these materials supported instructors in enacting national priorities from Vision and Change. We surveyed 139 instructors who implemented lessons published inCourseSource, a peer-reviewed journal specifically designed to share OERs. ResultsWe found that the majority of instructors who used the lesson materials (e.g., slides, worksheets, assessments, protocols) did so without making substantial modifications, in contrast with prior research. Furthermore, we found that these materials were particularly helpful in incorporating student-centered teaching practices, like group work or discussions, sometimes for the first time. DiscussionThese insights into what instructors value in lesson materials can inform OER publishing guidelines so that these materials best meet instructional needs.
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Evaluating Universal Design for Learning and Active Learning Strategies in Biology Open Educational Resources (OERs)
With the onset of COVID-19, colleges and universities moved to emergency remote teaching, and instructors immediately adjusted their curricula. Many instructors adapted or developed new online lessons that they subsequently published as Open Educational Resources (OERs). While much has been examined related to how entire course designs evolved during this period, the same attention has not been paid to how individual lessons were structured to meet online learners’ needs. As such, we evaluated OER lessons for the integration of universal design for learning (UDL) guidelines and active learning strategies. We evaluated OER lessons published in CourseSource, which is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on biology lessons implemented in undergraduate classrooms and provides the necessary details and supporting materials to replicate the lesson. We found that biology instructors used a variety of UDL guidelines and active learning strategies to encourage student learning and engagement in online teaching environments. This study also provides a collection of OER online lessons that instructors and educational developers can use to inform the practice of engaging biology students.
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- PAR ID:
- 10584595
- Publisher / Repository:
- Teaching & Learning Inquiry
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Teaching and Learning Inquiry
- Volume:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2167-4779
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Open Educational Resources (OER) are widely used instructional materials that are freely available and promote equitable access. OER research at the undergraduate level largely focuses on measuring student experiences with using the low cost resources, and instructor awareness of resources and perceived barriers to use. Little is known about how instructors work with materials based on their unique teaching context. To explore how instructors engage with OER, we surveyed users of CourseSource , an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes lessons primarily for undergraduate biology courses. We asked questions aligned with the OER life cycle, which is a framework that includes the phases: Search , Evaluation , Adaptation , Use , and Share . The results show that OER users come from a variety of institution types and positions, generally have positions that focus more on teaching than research, and use scientific teaching practices. To determine how instructors engage throughout the OER life cycle, we examined the frequency of survey responses. Notable trends include that instructors search and evaluate OER based on alignment to course needs, quality of the materials, and ease of implementation. In addition, instructors frequently modify the published materials for their classroom context and use them in a variety of course environments. The results of this work can help developers design current and future OER repositories to better coincide with undergraduate instructor needs and aid content producers in creating materials that encourage implementation by their colleagues.more » « less
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Schussler, Elisabeth (Ed.)This article describes an equity-focused professional learning community that used the EQUIP observation protocol to provide data analytics to instructors. The learning community met during Spring 2020, and due to the global coronavirus pandemic, it moved online midsemester. This article describes patterns of student participation and how they were impacted in moving online. We found that student participation dropped significantly in moving online, but instructors were able to implement new teaching strategies to increase participation. We document seven concrete strategies that instructors used to promote equitable participation in their online classes and that can be incorporated by biology educators into their online teaching. The strategies were: 1) re-establishing norms, 2) using student names, 3) using breakout rooms, 4) leveraging chat-based participation, 5) using polling software, 6) creating an inclusive curriculum, and 7) cutting content to maintain rigor. In addition, we describe the faculty learning process and how EQUIP data and the learning community environment supported instructors to change their practices.more » « less
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Barnard, Daron (Ed.)Open educational resources, or OER, are teaching materials that reside in the public domain and are available under an open license. While the creation of high-quality materials and cyberinfrastructure to share these resources is important, OER are much more than static resource repositories. Vibrant OER communities function as collaboration hubs and often include librarians, instructional technologists, instructors, education researchers, funders, open-source software developers, and college administrators. Together, these individuals work as a community to respond to changes in the education landscape, support student learning impacts both in terms of cost savings and student retention, and solve issues related to broadly sharing open resources on the web. This essay provides general information about OER, describes communities developing OER for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, and presents insights about sustainability challenges. The sustainability challenges are organized according to multiple dimensions: cultural and social, economic and financial, and technological and environmental. In addition, OER provide important opportunities to address and promote social justice and open and accessible education philosophies. Knowing more about the OER landscape, sustainability challenges, and educational justice opportunities can help instructors use and contribute to this growing movement to reshape the landscape of undergraduate education.more » « less
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BackgroundOpen Educational Resources (OERs) help instructors create innovative lessons and foster cost-effective and equitable access to educational materials. As more instructors turn to OERs to enhance their courses, there is a growing demand for the creation of more lesson plans. MethodsTo increase the number of high-quality OERs in undergraduate biology and physics, the journalCourseSourceintroduced Writing Studios to assist educators in writing and publishing OERs. Over a period of 5 years, 188 attendees participated in one of 11 different Writing Studios in which they followed a scaffolded worksheet to help draft their OER and engaged in peer review with partners. Attendees completed surveys before and after participation, and we tracked whether or not they published their manuscripts. ResultsWe found that 38.8% of attendees shared their OERs through aCourseSourcepublication. Several characteristics predicted OER sharing through publication such as format of the workshop and attendee’s type of institution. Participants also described a variety of supports and barriers that impacted their ability to publish as well as possible long-term supports that would help bring resources to publication. DiscussionThis study highlights the importance of ongoing support and tailored strategies to facilitate the sharing of OERs. The findings can benefit instructors and professional development leaders who are committed to increasing the number of high-quality resources that are available.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.12.20
