Exploring Faculty Perceptions of OER and Impediments to their Use: A Multi-Institutional Study

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2020-01-01
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Elder, Abbey
Larson, Amanda
Thornton, Elaine
Cross, Will
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Elder, Abbey
Librarian III
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Reference and Instruction
Subject librarians in the Reference & Instruction Division select books, journals, and other information resources for the Library's collections; provide general and specialized reference services; and provide instruction in the use of libraries and information. The Associate Dean for Reference & Instruction administers Library 160, a required, undergraduate course that helps students identify, locate, and use information resources in a variety of formats
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The department maintains an active public service, outreach, and tour program to both on-campus and off-campus groups, including academic classes, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, the Honors Program, ISU Learning Communities, Extension and 4-H groups, and K-12 student groups such as National History Day. The department also creates virtual exhibits for online visitors to its Web site, as well as exhibits for the Reading Room area and other locations on campus. The Reading Room, located on the fourth floor of Parks Library, oversees the central campus, and researchers and visitors are always welcome
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Abstract

Understanding faculty perceptions about OER is a vital step for those hoping to support the growth of OER initiatives at higher education institutions. Faculty members’ perceptions of OER often influence their interest in adopting open educational practices and their willingness to seek out support from campus staff. To explore how faculty members across their four institutions feel about open education, the authors developed a survey to discover faculty members’ (1) perspectives on, (2) barriers to, and (3) beliefs about OER use. The survey corroborated past research findings that faculty often have difficulty finding time to locate and evaluate OER, and that there is a need among the academic community to better compensate educators for their work developing open content. More notably, the authors discovered that the faculty who are aware of library support services and other institutional OER initiatives are more engaged in open educational practices and willing to explore OER, regardless of their prior experience with open education.

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This is article is published as Elder, Abbey, Amanda Larson, Elaine Thornton, and Will Cross. "Exploring Faculty Perceptions of OER and Impediments to their Use: A Multi-Institutional Study." The International Journal of Open Educational Resources 3, no. 2 (2020): 25069. Posted with permission.

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Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2020
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