2 Emphasis on sharing. 3 As we will later see, this emphasis on - - PDF document

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• Emphasis on sharing.

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• As we will later see, this emphasis on sharing and freedom to modify is similar to

the open-source movement in computer software. 4

• Emphasize that one of the big potential drawbacks of OER is that instructors and

students are left on their own to handle issues such as technical questions. This is likely why the tactic of offering modestly priced support alongside free textbooks is growing in popularity due to companies such as OpenStax. Simply having a phone number or email address of an outside company to give to students for support questions can be a big timesaver for instructors using OER. 5

• Regarding the sharing economy, consider how TripAdvisor allows us to plan trips

apart from travel agencies, Airbnb allows us to rent rooms for other people apart from hotels, LinkedIn allows us to network apart from employment agencies, and medical websites allow us to read about our own conditions prior to doctors’ visits.

• This sharing economy has spilled over into the education world in many ways, one
• f them being that many colleges are putting all their lecture notes and videos
• nline for people to use on their own for free, such as MIT’s OpenCourseWare.
• All of these trends are likely causing students to question the high cost of

textbooks in more traditional institutions of learning.

• As we will later see, adaptability of content is a huge concern for instructors.

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• Regarding quality, David Lippman, the founder of the free online math homework

software, argues that many instructors believe that publishers are necessary to create quality books. Yet he argues “most instructors are used to judging books based on proxies of quality like pretty color graphics, big name authors, and reps with good marketing material” (personal communication, November 2, 2015). He goes on to point out that there are both high and low quality books in both the OER and publisher worlds, so instructors should analyze all books using the same criteria.

• Regarding time commitment, much OER is not as “turnkey” as published materials.
• Regarding support, this is why so many companies are popping up to offer support

alongside open source materials, such as Lumen Learning and XYZ Homework.

• Math has a vibrant OER movement, other subjects such as humanities not so
• much. Trends in math education do indeed change, and math books do indeed

become outdated. With all that said, it is still admittedly easier to manage math OER books than for other subjects. 7

• Can something of high quality be made by volunteers?
• Glyn Moody (2002) wrote the book Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source

Revolution about the creation of the free Linux operating system as a response to the closed-ness of commercial operating systems such as Microsoft Windows.

• In the early 1980’s, Andrew Tanenbaum, a computer science faculty member at

the Free University in Amsterdam, became frustrated that the license for the Unix

• perating system did not allow the source code (the innards of the software) to be

shared with students. This is metaphorically equivalent to telling auto mechanic students they are not allowed to open the hood of a car.

• From 1984 to 1986, Tanenbaum developed his own operating system called Minix

for the primary purpose of letting students study the code. He charged money for it, but students gladly paid the fair price for a chance to be free to tinker with with the software.

• All of this later led to the development of the more well-known Linux operating

system, which was first released in 1991 by Linus Torvalds and a host of volunteer

• programmers. The development of Linux has continues today, although it has

forked into many different versions.

• According to Moody prestige is measured in this Linux community “not by what

you have, but by what you give away” (p. 154). The OER movement has many similarities with the Linux movement in that its contributors work for free and that freedom to change materials is just as important as lowering cost.

• The key question, however, is whether or not these open products are high quality.

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• The OER Research Hub (2014) has come out with one of the few big research

reports on OER. Findings include that almost 80% of educators use some sort of OER for planning and adaptability of content is a key reason they do. Also, since financial burdens are a common problem with student retention, OER may be able to help this. Yet the report also admits that much of what has been written about OER is based on advocacy rather than hard research, and so many more studies need to be done.

• One major issue OER must face is whether or not it works better for some subjects

than others. For example, the OER movement in math is very vibrant, likely in part because trends in math change so slowly. Yet OER may be much more difficult for subjects such as biology for which the research changes so fast. Another major issue already discussed is that of quality. The OER movement must convince educators that high quality materials can be developed outside of a publisher. Yet what OER has going for it is its adaptability under open licenses. This is in line with current cultural trends such as the sharing economy. If the OER movement can harness the energy of these cultural trends while also maintaining high quality, many students will surely appreciate both the cost savings and the spirit of community that all of this embodies. 9

• Again, notice that companies are arising to give paid support alongside free

materials, such as to give students someone to contact in case of tech troubles with the online homework system. 10

• For example, biology and medical books are lacking likely because the research

changes so quickly. It also seems that humanities is lacking. 11

• Consider the same question yet regarding cars. What if you were trying to choose

between two cars, one for $40,000 of quality 10 and one for $20,000 of quality 9? Which would you choose?

• Notice that the main difference between the two stories is that for textbooks, we

as instructors are telling students what to buy, while with the cars we are choosing for ourselves. We should be careful with the power we have to force students to buy certain materials. 12

• OER may not be the answer for everyone. It may not even be the answer for me.

One irony of all this is how much I like nice things. I drink Starbucks coffee when I can find the grounds on sale at Cosco. I paid for this PowerPoint template rather than using the free ones I looked at, none of which I liked. Yet one theme of this whole discussion is that we should be much more careful when deciding what

• thers will have to buy. 
• Possibly share my story. I was an advocate of one of the big publishing companies

for many years. I considered the money students paid completely worth it. Then I asked them for permission to make a certain customization, and they said no… 13

• David Price’s book Open is a fun read for those who want a good introductory

book on the themes discussed here. 14

• A very helpful feature of FlatIcon is that you can choose the color of your icon.

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