This week, we hear from Andrew Rechnitzer, Professor in the Mathematics Department.
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What motivated you do adopt/adapt/create open educational resources in your work?
The initial impetus was the shock of the price of the new edition of the text we had been using. While that text was quite good, it simply did not justify the cost to students. My coauthors and I (with support from our department) decided that it was time to move to a cheaper alternative. We were somewhat naive in thinking that we could just polish up our lecture notes into a workable textbook – but we dove into the project. Now while the initial push was combating ever increasing textbook prices, we also decided that we should tune the material to suit the course (rather than the other way around) and improve (at least in our eyes) the level and presentation of certain topics within the course.
Can you tell us about the open education projects you have been working on?
The sequence of 4 CLP calculus textbooks with Elyse Yeager and Joel Feldman was my initial open ed project. Those texts are now in use in our main calculus sequence. Seckin Demirbas and I are also working on a proof and logic text for Mathematics 220. There are good commercial texts in that subject, but as is the case for calculus, those texts have become dramatically more expensive – with little additional benefit for students. Also we are taking the opportunity to tune the text to the way we would like the material to be taught.
Finally my largest OER project is a piece of open-source software to allow online marking and return of tests. This has already been used in quite a few subjects in Mathematics and we are ready to find test-sites in other subjects and institutions. (This is a shameless pitch to anyone who might be interested in using or developing!). While this software has less of direct impact on students wallets, we hope that it will allow us to give much richer feedback on assessment, save departments money, while respecting the privacy of student data.
What benefits have you seen from using open educational resources in the classroom?
The main benefit has been the reduction of direct costs to students – they are always pleased to hear that they won’t have to buy a text. The extensive problem sets in the CLP texts are a big plus for students since they contain a huge library of problems and solutions that most students would not be able to access (without buying an expensive student solution manual). Additionally many of those problems come from old tests and exams, and so give students a good guide of not only what sorts of problems to expect, but also what we consider to be a complete, thorough solution.
What was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?
Building OER takes time and energy. Instructors need both to produce good quality materials. I’m not entirely sure if we have overcome those challenges, but I’m going to give credit to my coauthors who have put in some much time and energy into these projects. I know that UBC is now beginning to provide funds to help instructors find more time, but I think more still should be done if UBC wants to build on the current momentum that OER has at our institution. A small investment by UBC can translate into many dollars saved by students.
Do you have any advice for other faculty developing OER?
Do not underestimate how much time is required to produce good quality OER. Talk to your colleagues, find coauthors (to help spread the load). Also – learn good tools – there are some excellent pieces of software out there for authoring, collaborating and publishing. I strongly recommend learning to use git (for collaboration and version control) and pretext (for authoring online texts).
Is there anything else you’d like to add about OER at UBC?
I am really pleased to be part of OER at UBC. I think that there are a lot of really good OER projects at many different stages and that UBC is well positioned to be a leader in this important aspect of higher-education. We should all (faculty, staff and students) keep pushing to ensure that UBC’s OER ecosystem continues to grow.
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Thank you, Andrew, for taking the time to participate!
