Intl Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 4, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2021 | Page 39

A Study of STEM Usage and Perceptions of OER at a Large Research University

alent to traditional sources . A most significant barrier to OER adoption was the requirement of time and effort to evaluate it ( Allen et al ., 2014 ). In a similar study with similar results , Jung et al . ( 2017 ) administered a survey on faculty use , perceptions , and quality of OER and found that most faculty perceived the OpenStax textbook ' s quality as the same as a traditional textbook . Today the U . S . Department of Education Office of Post Secondary Education offers a competitive grant “ Open Textbook ’ Pilot ” ( OTP ) program . The goal of this grant is to develop open textbooks or to expand the use of open textbooks for high enrollment courses . The result would be cost savings passed down to students .

Methodology

To assess the perceptions of OER , an online survey comprising 11 questions was distributed to STEM faculty , researchers , graduate students , and visiting scholars to determine their knowledge and use of OER in teaching and research and OER acceptability and popularity within disciplines at the University of Florida . The survey initially included four groups : 1 ) faculty , 2 ) staff scientists ( engineers , extension research center agents , and scientists ), 3 ) graduate students , and 4 ) visiting scholars from four colleges , [ College of Agricultural & Life Sciences ( CALS ), College of Design , Construction & Planning ( CDCP ), Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering ( HWCOE ), and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences ( CLAS )]. Due to the low response rates of groups 2 and 4 , the authors decided to combine the responses of the faculty ( n = 73 ) and the researcher / scientist / extension agent / engineer ( n = 7 ), and visiting scholar ( n = 1 ).

In addition to the demographical questions , nine questions included in the survey focused on understanding user experience in using open educational resources for teaching and / or research initiatives . The authors posit that the UF community uses OER differently for teaching / curriculum support and their research activities .

Results and Discussions

The demographic responses from both questions are combined for status and affiliation . The responders self-identified as researcher / faculty / scientists , student / postdoc , and stated their affiliation with STEM colleges ( Fig . 2 ). Most responses tied themselves to the CALS , where students and faculty seem equally enthusiastic about the survey .

When

surveyed about their level of knowledge of OER , the majority of respondents ( n = 46 ) believe they have an average understanding of OER ( Fig . 3 ). Significantly few respondents indicated they have a far above average ( n = 5 ), followed by a somewhat above average ( n = 13 ) knowledge . This is followed by a combined slightly below average ( n = 32 ) and far below average ( n = 17 ). At every level , the faculty had more knowledge of OER than students . ( Fig . 3 ).

While the current trend with OER in higher education focuses on the

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