Article

The Effectiveness of Open Educational Resources to Improve Access and Learning in an Electricity Course

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Abstract

A primary motivation for using Open Educational Resources (OERs) is to increase access by reducing students’ financial burden. While this was a motivating factor in this study, the authors also were interested in understanding OER’s impact on student learning. Therefore, this study describes the adaption process for an OER textbook used in a junior-level undergraduate electricity course and evaluates this OER’s effectiveness to increase student access and improve learning over the baseline textbook. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent design collected exam scores, and self-reported survey responses from n=144 students in a comparison (non-adapted OER; n=83) and treatment (adapted OER; n=61) group was used. Based on Student’s t, Kolmogorov Smirnov, and Chi-square (?2) tests, the adapted OER was effective at improving access and learning while also saving enrolled students an average of $8,000 per year, collectively. A brief background of OER databases, materials, and methods used to develop the OER and the intellectual contribution of the newly adapted OER, and lessons learned are included in the study.

Keywords: open educational resources, access, learning

How to Cite:

Haughery, J. R., Olaniba, O. S. & Elder, A. K., (2021) “The Effectiveness of Open Educational Resources to Improve Access and Learning in an Electricity Course”, The Journal of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering 37(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/jtmae.14100