A Study of STEM Usage and Perceptions of OER at a Large Research University
a Creative Commons license . The Minnesota Open book library , Washington State ' s Open Course Library , The Saylor Foundation , Affordable Learning Georgia , and open access journals are some of these unique resources . Although the number of OER ' s continues to increase , the acceptance of these resources in higher education remains in question and needs to be assessed . While valuable , many studies have examined the perceptions of faculty and researchers using anything they considered to be OER at many different levels ( de los Arcos et al . 2016 , Bliss et al . 2013 , and Hilton 2016 ). Here , we will focus on literature documenting faculty perceptions of OER in higher education . Young ( 2015 ) presented a study regarding faculty perception and the use of OER in teaching and reported mixed responses . In Young ' s study , there existed a lack of available resources , time to locate OER , and upper-level course material was also sparse . Hilton ( 2020 ) published a synthesis of studies from twenty OER perception studies involving students and faculty . He concluded that most of the faculty and students who have used OER had a positive experience ( Hilton , 2020 ). In another similar study , Warner studied various HBCU faculty perceptions of OER ; Warner used the COUP assessment ( Cost , Outcomes , Usages , and Perception ) and concluded that faculty reported positive perceptions of OER ( Warner , 2020 ). In two separate studies , Fine and Read ( 2020 ) and Lin ( 2019 ) examined factors influencing students ’ perceptions of OER and the impact of OER on students . They identified that pedagogical use of OER increased students ’ access to education and fostered the development of self-directed skills and copyright awareness . Yuan ( 2019 ) developed an OER evaluation rubric to study the perceptions of OER among teaching and non-teaching personnel . Not surprisingly , teachers gave a higher rating to the OER in comparison to the non-teacher participants using the evaluation rubric . In a study by Morris-Babb and Henderson ( 2012 ) 2,707 faculty and administrators were asked to assess their familiarity with the OER in Florida . Most survey responders stated their unfamiliarity with OER textbooks . In a similar study reported by Murphy ( 2013 ), the survey results from 110 individuals from higher education worldwide indicate that although educators were interested in OER , they face challenges using them . The greatest challenge described was the lack of dedicated information about the OER support and the cost for redeveloping courses ( Murphy 2013 ). These findings were similar to the study reported by McKerlich et al . ( 2013 ); the use and creation of OER were measured at the Athabasca University . Many of the faculty and staff who were surveyed ( 43 %) accepted using OER , and 31 % supported OER resource creation . Creating and supporting OER is important , but for faculty , students , and researchers to use OER , they not only need to be aware of the resources but also need to trust the quality of the resources ( Allen & Seaman 2016 ). A seminal body of work the national study conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group states that " most higher education faculty are unaware of open educational
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