OER Stories

OER and Adult Basic Education

Jennifer Jennings is an instructor in the Basic Education department. She teaches GED(R) preparation and pre-college transition classes for students who are interested in earning a high school credential for employment or for going on to college programs, many of whom are non-native speakers. Open-source materials appeal to my students because they can access them remotely from their computers and phones, and the various types of material mean that students with different styles of learning are better served.

Jennifer Jennings sharing with SBCTC on Vimeo.

Hi, my name is Jennifer Jennings, and I have been an instructor in the Basic Education department for about twelve years. I teach GED(R) preparation and pre-college transition classes for students who are interested in earning a high school credential for employment or for going on to college programs, many of whom are non-native speakers. I’ve been a part of the Textbook Alternative Committee since its beginning and use open source materials as a way to save my students money as well as customize the content I want for my curriculum. Open source materials appeal to my students because they can access them remotely from their computers and phones, and the various types of material mean that student with different styles of learning are better served.

The future of OER & Mathematics

Mike Nevins is a mathematics instructor at Everett Community College. His dream is that five to ten years out all developmental math courses will feature OER. Mike’s motivated by stories students have shared that illustrate the part he plays in developing autonomous learners. OER to Mike represents equal access to everyone, and freedom – freedom to push away from the norm, from textbook constraints and traditional pedagogy.

Mike Nevins shares with SBCTC on Vimeo.
Mike Nevins is a full-time mathematics instructor at Everett Community College. He created his own open course materials using a variety of open resources including Tyler Wallace’s algebra textbook and wamap. The response he’s received from students so far has been great. He plans to develop more open course materials for Math 91 and 92 during an upcoming sabbatical. His dream is that five to ten years out all developmental math courses will feature open educational resources. Mike’s motivated by stories students have shared that illustrate the part he plays in developing autonomous learners. OER to Mike represents equal access to everyone, and freedom – freedom to push away from the norm, from textbook constraints and traditional pedagogy.

Benefits of moving away from textbooks

Shelli Jordan-Zirkle teaches U.S. History courses at Everett Community College. Instead of using textbooks that summarize time periods, she uses many primary sources (documents from the time) that students read and respond to. The impact of the financial savings to students inspired her to stop using commercial textbooks entirely.

She found that this enhances their critical thinking skills and they claim it brings history to life for them.

Shelli Jordan-Zirkle shares with SBCTC on Vimeo.

Increasing student access to education

Christie Fierro teaches public speaking at Tacoma Community College. In Tacoma, 70% of the people in the area are living in extreme poverty. Christie discusses how offering the course with strictly OER materials - which meant no textbook costs - altered the first day of class and impacted student learning in general. Some of her students also share their perspectives.

Christie Fierro shares with SBCTC on Vimeo.

A student perspective: Saving money, feeling engaged

JoAnne Eller is a student at Tacoma Community College. Textbook costs had been shocking to her and budgeting for texts hadn’t been something she considered. She touches on how OER has allowed her to put more money toward her general education and how her participation in learning and contributing to OER has been empowering.

JoAnne Eller shares with SBCTC on Vimeo.

IT & keeping current

Alex Zimmerman, a full-time IT Specialist by day and part-time faculty member by night at Everett Community College, speaks on the adaptability and flexibility of using Open Educational Resources (OER) and the ways it helped engage and empower his students. Calling the use of OER an "educational revolution" he shares some of the benefits he's found in the process.

Alex Zimmerman sharing with SBCTC on Vimeo.

Free, relevant & customizable

Sandra Lepper teaches Understanding World Art. The course is fairly unusual in that it combines basic visual concepts with global images and ideas, and in the past, she had a difficult time finding an appropriate and useful text.

She enthusiastically discusses the value of using OER to customize her course content so that it goes beyond general learning and allows students to engage with it on a local and regional level.

Sandra Lepper sharing with SBCTC on Vimeo.

Producing your own OER content & empowering students

Political science instructor, Michael Elmore, shares how he incorporated student contributions into the development of a comprehensive Introduction to Politic Science textbook. A few of the students share their experiences of the process.

Michael Elmore sharing with SBCTC on Vimeo.

Enhancing the Classroom Experience

Robin Araniva, Associate Faculty in Science at Everett Community College, talks about her experience as she begins to adopt Open Educational Resources (OER) in order to address that which isn't covered in the primary textbook used in her course. Along the way, she's discovering she has more freedom to create and students find the work more relevant.

Robin Araniva sharing with SBCTC on Vimeo.