Viking Open Educational Resource Research Guide: LEARN11 Report

Inspiration: 

There were several motivating factors. The LEARN faculty had long been dissatisfied with the textbooks available via publishers, always compromising on one aspect of the course or another. At the same time, the cost of textbooks had continued to increase. Being very familiar with the challenges faced by the students we serve, the Department was sensitive to the financial burden of textbooks. We saw OER as a potential solution to both of these problems, as well as an opportunity to contribute to institutional goals and do something innovative. 
 
Our process: 

The Department Head discussed the opportunity with the full-time faculty. We then invited the OER Coordinator to attend a Department meeting to share his knowledge, the rationale for OER at LBCC resources the stipend opportunity being offered. Using these resources and the skills of another OER committee member (who also happens to be a librarian), the faculty researched currently available OER texts in the discipline. Unfortunately, none were found that were comprehensive of the course.  At the same time, the faculty began investigating a variety of contemporary resources beyond the current textbook to ascertain organizational structure options, thematic progressions, and rigor and scope commonalities. All this lead to the conclusion that if we were to adopt OER, it would involve building something ourselves and a significant amount of work. As a small department of 4.5 full-time, none of us had time to devote to this large undertaking. The stipend offered gave us the opportunity to realistically initiate the project by involving our wonderful part-time faculty.
 
We the surveyed part-time faculty to assemble a team interested in the project and submitted a project proposal to the OER committee full-time faculty also surveyed as to which areas of the current text they used most. Once the proposal was approved, the LAR OER team reviewed this information as well as the course outline of record and used the SLO and content pages to organize and divide up the work. Each of the part-time faculty selected areas they about which they were most passionate and we developed a timeline with due dates, a standard format for deliverables and a Google workspace. 

 
As the first draft began to take shape, the full-time faculty met to review progress and provide input. This feedback was incorporated into the working document. In the meantime,  classified staff learned of the project and volunteered to help. The librarian OER Committee member also assisted troubleshooting and collecting materials from the team. 

 
With everyone’s help –full-time and part-time faculty, classified staff and OER committee members - and hard work, a completed draft was submitted by the proposal deadline.
 
Since then, this collaboration has continued to flourish; the classified staff member is going above and beyond to ensure materials are consistently formatted and navigable by students. The librarian OER Committee member is assisting with resource citation, and full-time faculty providing additional content. 
 
The OER is being implemented in three class sections in spring 2019 to test its efficacy with students and gather feedback. A student survey is being developed to systematically gather the student's voice. This feedback will be used to improve the text for the following semester. Depending on resources available, future plans include adding content we were unable to include and fully integrating the text into Canvas to take advantage of its features and accessibility.

Challenges: 

The main challenge has been finding time & resources:

 

•  Rather than simply selecting from and evaluating existing textbooks, this is a very time-intensive undertaking when no off-the-shelf OER resources exist. Also, while there are many OER resources available, not all meet Departmental standards of rigor and quality. It will remain a challenge to bring the OER to its full potential and make it a  user- and student-friendly and fully accessible resource on par with those offered by large publishing houses. A detailed account of what may be necessary to accomplish this can be provided.

 

•   Part-time faculty have many obligations and are pulled in many directions in order to make a living, with changes to their schedules, etc. often being out of their control. At times this interferes with their ability to focus on projects such as this. Keeping their realities in mind, and being creative and flexible helped.

 

• Full-time faculty had trepidations about replacing the textbook they were used to using and around which they had built their syllabus without there being a viable alternative. Deciding to first pilot the text in only a few sections taught by the OER developers, listening to concerns and creating to provide input during development has been helpful.

 
What might we do differently:

• If we had to start over, we would have familiarized ourselves more with the various authoring platforms now available, such as OER Commons, Libretexts and Pressbooks. We are now going back through materials to ensure attributions are correct for the CC-BY-NC permission, which takes time. The process may have been shorter had we taken advantage of these resources upfront.

 

Benefits:

The project has created exciting opportunities for:
    • discussion about how the class is taught
    • thinking creatively about the class
    • helping students with the cost of higher education
    • part-time faculty to bring  perspective and voice to the course 
    • greater part-time faculty integration into Department
    • part-time faculty to enhance their resumes
    • freely updating content and customizing the text  
 
Cost savings: At 30 students per class in 3 class spring 2019 class sections and a textbook cost of approximately $75 per book, we estimate the current savings to students at approximately $6,750 without tax (table below left). There is potential, however, for much greater savings once we are able to employ it in all sections (table below right).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annie Chung has enjoyed teaching LEARN 11 at Long Beach College since 2012. She holds a Master’s in Education and a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from UCLA. She earned her BA in American Studies from Stanford University. Annie is a proud mother of two, an active member in her church, and enjoys reading and playing sports.

 

 

Taylor R. Kliesen has worked in the Learning and Academic Resources department for nearly 8 years, advancing from student assistant to full-time Instructional Lab Support Technician. In addition to her work on OER, Taylor designed the L.A.R.’s extensive study skills handouts as well as flyers, logos, and other design projects for the Department and the LBCC Foundation. She loves coffee, baking, recreational writing, and her dog Parker.

 

 

 

Sarah Leinen has a background in Education, English, Adult Learning, Reading, Social Science, Political Science, Constitutional Civil Liberties, and Queer Studies. She takes a "guide-on-the-side" approach to teaching where the students take the reins of their education and she is the facilitator. Ms. Leinen enjoys going to the beach, attending concerts, hanging out with her friends and family, and she has recently gotten into DIY projects around the house.

 

 

Robin Sharp is an adjunct instructor in the Learning and Academic Resources and Psychology Departments as well as an Instructional Specialist in the Multidisciplinary Success Center.  She earned her master’s degree in clinical psychology at Antioch University, subsequently becoming subject matter expert and curriculum developer and designer in critical thinking and psychology.  Robin’s background also includes counseling, tutoring and advocating for at-risk youth as well as serving in administrative capacities for major universities in the Southern California area. 

 

 

Heidi Neu-Stephens enjoys creative endeavors, especially coordinating innovative projects such as OER that provide participants opportunities to contribute their strengths & talents in service to students. With degrees in Literature and Linguistics and varied experience in learning skills, ESL and Adult Education, she is honored to serve LBCC as Department Head for Learning & Academic Resources and Instructional Specialist in the PCC Multidisciplinary Success Center. When not among Vikings, she loves spending time with all that makes life beautiful: family, friends, food, art, music, dancing, nature and spiritual growth.