The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United States
Open Educational Resources (OER) and renewable assignments that create OER are closely related and promote access to knowledge, collaboration, and community engagement. Through both, PhD students can contribute to the advancement of open education while enhancing their own learning and professional...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Open Praxis |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/626 |
| _version_ | 1797221161963094016 |
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| author | Faheem Ohri Megan R. Westmore LaTisha Thomas Priyanjali Chakraborty Rebecca L. Mauldin |
| author_facet | Faheem Ohri Megan R. Westmore LaTisha Thomas Priyanjali Chakraborty Rebecca L. Mauldin |
| author_sort | Faheem Ohri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Open Educational Resources (OER) and renewable assignments that create OER are closely related and promote access to knowledge, collaboration, and community engagement. Through both, PhD students can contribute to the advancement of open education while enhancing their own learning and professional development. Despite many advantages, OER and renewable assignments are widely underutilized in U.S. institutions of higher education. To enhance nationwide adoption, PhD programs may be an important context for using and creating OER because many PhD students will become faculty members in the future. This survey research collected data from April to December 2022 to explore the prevalence and perceptions of OER and renewable assignments among the 72 PhD programs in the top 100 ranked social work programs in the United States. Thirty of the 72 programs were represented in the sample. Most of the respondents (68%) reported using OER materials in at least one course, with audiovisual and textbooks the most reported type of OER used. In contrast, a few (6%) of the respondents reported their programs used renewable assignments. Lack of knowledge or awareness was the most commonly cited reason for not adopting OER or renewable assignments. Representatives from programs that had adopted OER had higher perceptions of positive student impact from OER use or creation than those from programs that had not adopted OER (Mann Whitney U = 61.0, p = .058). Our findings indicate a reasonably widespread adoption of OER as course materials in social work PhD programs in the United States. There is an opportunity for increased adoption of renewable assignments to both create suitable, high quality OER materials for use in social work PhD programs and to train future social work faculty in the logistics of creating and using OER.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:01:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a67f1cbdb1f74bc998bed183f55faef9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1369-9997 2304-070X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:01:03Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Praxis |
| spelling | doaj.art-a67f1cbdb1f74bc998bed183f55faef92024-04-05T12:51:41ZengInternational Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)Open Praxis1369-99972304-070X2024-04-0116210.55982/openpraxis.16.2.626The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United StatesFaheem Ohri0Megan R. Westmore1LaTisha Thomas2Priyanjali Chakraborty3Rebecca L. Mauldin4The University of Texas at ArlingtonThe University of Texas at ArlingtonThe University of Texas at ArlingtonThe University of Texas at ArlingtonThe University of Texas at Arlington Open Educational Resources (OER) and renewable assignments that create OER are closely related and promote access to knowledge, collaboration, and community engagement. Through both, PhD students can contribute to the advancement of open education while enhancing their own learning and professional development. Despite many advantages, OER and renewable assignments are widely underutilized in U.S. institutions of higher education. To enhance nationwide adoption, PhD programs may be an important context for using and creating OER because many PhD students will become faculty members in the future. This survey research collected data from April to December 2022 to explore the prevalence and perceptions of OER and renewable assignments among the 72 PhD programs in the top 100 ranked social work programs in the United States. Thirty of the 72 programs were represented in the sample. Most of the respondents (68%) reported using OER materials in at least one course, with audiovisual and textbooks the most reported type of OER used. In contrast, a few (6%) of the respondents reported their programs used renewable assignments. Lack of knowledge or awareness was the most commonly cited reason for not adopting OER or renewable assignments. Representatives from programs that had adopted OER had higher perceptions of positive student impact from OER use or creation than those from programs that had not adopted OER (Mann Whitney U = 61.0, p = .058). Our findings indicate a reasonably widespread adoption of OER as course materials in social work PhD programs in the United States. There is an opportunity for increased adoption of renewable assignments to both create suitable, high quality OER materials for use in social work PhD programs and to train future social work faculty in the logistics of creating and using OER. https://account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/626Open educational resources (OER)OER-enabled pedagogyrenewable assignments that create OERdoctoral educationsocial work education |
| spellingShingle | Faheem Ohri Megan R. Westmore LaTisha Thomas Priyanjali Chakraborty Rebecca L. Mauldin The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United States Open Praxis Open educational resources (OER) OER-enabled pedagogy renewable assignments that create OER doctoral education social work education |
| title | The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United States |
| title_full | The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United States |
| title_fullStr | The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United States |
| title_short | The Use of Open Educational Resources and Renewable Assignments in Social Work Ph.D. Programs in the United States |
| title_sort | use of open educational resources and renewable assignments in social work ph d programs in the united states |
| topic | Open educational resources (OER) OER-enabled pedagogy renewable assignments that create OER doctoral education social work education |
| url | https://account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/626 |
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