Free Up Your Teaching: Open
Access Teaching Made Easy
Ann Ludbrook, Michelle Schwartz,
Nancy Walton, Dana Lee, Chris
MacDonald, Gavin Adamson
October 21, 2015
Agenda
• An introduction to open access education
• Demo: Building a mix and match course
• Guest speakers:
– Nancy Walton, Director of e-learning
– Dana Lee, Associate Professor, RTA School of
Media, and Director of the Sports Media Program
– Chris MacDonald, Associate Professor, Business
and Law, and Director, Ted Rogers Leadership
Centre
– Gavin Adamson, Associate Professor, School of
Journalism.
What is open access education?
Open Access Education
“A collection of practices that utilize online
technology to freely share knowledge” – UBC
•Open access journals (DOAJ)
•Open data (Toronto Open Data)
•Open source software (Firefox, Wordpress)
•Open textbooks (BC Open Ed, Open Stax)
•Open educational resources (OER Commons)
BC Campus, “Adopting Open Textbooks.” http://adoptotb.com
Open Educational Resources
• “teaching, learning or research materials that
are in the public domain or released with an
intellectual property license that allows for
free use, adaptation, and distribution” –
UNESCO
BC Campus, “Adopting Open Textbooks.” http://adoptotb.com
5Rs – What Makes Material Open?
•
•
•
•
Retain – make, own, and control content
Reuse – use content for any purpose
Revise – adapt, adjust, or modify the content
Remix – combine original or revised content
with other open content to form new content
• Redistribute the remixed work under a similar
licence so others can use your work too!
David Wiley, “The Access Compromise and the 5th R.”
http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3221
What are some benefits to open
access education?
Benefits of Open Access
• Jack Andraka – high school student who
invented screening test for pancreatic cancer
by reading open source journals articles
By XPRIZE Foundation (Flickr: V
2013) [CC BY 2.0
(http://creativecommons.org/l
], via Wikimedia Commons
Why Use Open Access Resources?
Price
• Average undergraduate cost textbooks and supplies
$200.00 CAN per course
• Textbooks increasing at a cost of 6%-7% per year
• Estimated 82% increase in the price of college
textbooks since 1982 in the US
• E-textbook licenses often expire and are sometimes
limited to only 6 months
• Textbook refreshment cycle of every three years
means the used textbook market is limited
Why Use Open Access Resources?
Access
• U.S. PIRG survey found 65% of 2000 students
surveyed had opted out of buying the
required textbook because of price
• 94% of the students who had skipped buying
textbooks believed it could hurt their
performance in class.
• 48% of the students said that they had
altered which classes they take due to
textbook costs
Why Use Open Access Resources?
Improved student performance
• US study of 4,183 science students showed
an increase of .65 points on standardized
tests using open textbooks
• Virginia State University study showed
higher grades in courses that used open
textbooks
Case Study: University of Virginia
• Study looked at student experience of open
textbooks
• 991 students in 9 business courses
• Increased student marks
• Students were satisfied with the resources
• Improved access to resources (parity)
• Weakness – possibly better suited to
introductory courses
Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton III, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open Textbooks and
dent Access and Outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning.
Using open access readings:
The Mix and Match Approach
• Putting individual copyrighted chapters on ereserve using fair dealing
• Remixing open access resources to focus only
on what is needed for your particular course
• Providing links in your course shell to material
on the web
• Working with the library to clear copyright on
on different types of material
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
One chapter from a traditional
textbook (used under
fair dealing)
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Build a Mix and Match Course
Use Open Access Educational
Resources
• Research what is out there
• Review and evaluate
• Decide if you want to use as is OR edit
and customize
• Distribute to your students and cite
• Let other instructors know how it worked
out
Supports available at Ryerson
• LTO will help with best practices on open
access educational resource creation
• The library can host Open Access Textbooks
and Resources in the RULA Digital Repository
• Copyright Librarian will help with research on
open access resources
• E-Learning Librarian can help with tips on
software etc.