Date of Award

1-1-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Teaching, Leadership & Professional Practice

First Advisor

Sonja Brandt

Abstract

This study examined Open Educational Resources (OER) through a community college faculty perspective. Specifically, this study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of faculty motivations surrounding OER, faculty perceptions of OER’s influences on students, and pedagogical changes that faculty have made in response to OER. A qualitative research methodology was chosen, including semi-structured phenomenological interviews conducted with community college faculty members. The methodology was guided by activity theory. Faculty discussed their use of the 5 Rs (retain, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute) in practice, with revise being the most commonly used of the 5 Rs. Notably, the eight participants had mixed views of redistribute. Several of the participants indicated wanting to redistribute to help others, due to the fact that they themselves had benefited from others’ help in the past. However, others were more reluctant to redistribute, for a myriad of reasons. Next, faculty’s perceived pedagogical changes, or lack thereof, in response to adopting OER were discussed. Interviewed faculty were divided equally on this question, with half of the faculty citing no change and half citing positive pedagogical changes since adopting OER. Finally, faculty’s perceptions of the influence of OER on student learning and engagement were discussed. From this, three main themes emerged: cost savings, availability, and quality of materials and ease of use.

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