Open Ed 13: How to Make It Work for Faculty: A study of how Washington Community and Technical Colleges Use Oer

Boyoung Chae and Connie Broughton discuss the Open Course Library for Washington State's 
 Community and Technical Colleges.

"While new open educational resources are being continuously created, little data exists on how faculty in higher education actually use and perceive open educational resources, and more importantly what types of support faculty need to help them implement the open educational resources. After developing the Open Course Library, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) conducted a study of how faculty at the 34 system colleges use OER. The purpose of the study is to investigate

1. how and to what extent open educational resources are being used in the college classroom, 
2. how faculty perceive open educational resources, 
3. what type of support is needed to help faculty embrace the open educational resources.

In this study, a mixed-method design was used incorporating both quantitative and qualitative study methodologies. We began our study by developing an extensive survey in collaboration with two faculty unions of the community and technical colleges in the state of Washington. The survey was sent to all faculty in the system. Based on the survey results, we conducted a qualitative Delphi study. Delphi is a collective human intelligence process among experts, in this case, a focus group consisting of open educational resources experts in Washington CTC system. The group discussed what constitutes the best support system for faculty's use of open educational resources.
Based on the data collected from survey, and the consensus from the qualitative Delphi study, we created a conceptual framework that informs faculty's needs, use, expectations, and most importantly the types of support in using open educational resources.

This study will provide a roadmap for anyone who organizes the future professional development plan for open educational movement in higher education. It will remind the audiences of the most crucial aspect of building and promoting open educational resources: how to make it work for faculty."

Conducted a state-wide survey of WA community and technical college teachers, they got 730 responses and will follow up with phone interviews. 

83% of the faculty had heard of OER, and follow up questions showed that they understood what OER actually were. 67% previously searched for OER for their classes. 60% had used OER in their teaching practice.

Reasons for not adopting

• Hard to find appropriate resources
• No quality materials available

Conclusions from the survey was tha tth faculty needed and wanted more training and professional development activities.

Related articles

• OERs and Open Online Courses (downes.ca)
• Faculty Learning Communities 2013-2014 (assessmentlearningteaching.com)
• International Interest in Our Virtual College's Use of Open Educational Resources (anngh.wordpress.com)
• Washington State CTC Faculty: OER Survey (assessmentlearningteaching.com)
• Open Education: OER, OCW and MOOCs (libraryeuroparl.wordpress.com)