Choice publishes white paper examining course materials adoption and the outlook for OER

Posted on October 4, 2018 in Press Releases

Middletown, CT – Wednesday, October 3, 2018: Choice today announced the publication of the third in a series of white papers designed to provide actionable intelligence around topics of importance to the academic library community. This third paper, “Course Materials Adoption: A Faculty Survey and Outlook for the OER Landscape,” is an analysis of the responses to a survey of US faculty conducted by Choice in the spring of this year. It offers a glimpse into the decision-making process used when selecting instructional materials for higher education courses, with specific attention devoted to the factors critical to the adoption of OER.

Written by Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian at Temple University, the white paper provides an overview of the development and growth of OER in American higher education and presents an empirical look at how faculty evaluate and ultimately decide to choose OER for instructional material. It explores the process used to source appropriate materials, what difficulties this may entail, and whether these obstacles may be preventing some from adopting OER. The conclusions derived from Bell’s analysis of the survey will help OER advocates and educators understand the factors that contribute to instructor decisions when choosing their educational materials.

Commenting on the publication of the latest white paper, Choice publisher Mark Cummings noted, “Steven Bell’s paper not only exposes factors in course materials adoption but also offers concrete suggestions regarding the need for better OER discovery tools. Equally important are his remarks on the role of academic librarians in the OER adoption process, which emphasize the importance of developing new strategies for engaging with faculty around these critical issues.”
“Course Materials Adoption: A Faculty Survey and Outlook for the OER Landscape,” has been published under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and is available at www.choice360.org/librarianship/whitepaper.

About Choice

Choice is a publishing unit of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association. Founded in 1964, Choice has for over 50 years been the premier source for reviews of academic books and digital resources of interest to scholars and students in higher education. Please visit Choice at www.choice360.org for more information.

Contact: Deb Villavicencio-Eschinger
Email: dvillavicencio@ala-choice.org

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