Open Educational Resources in Behavior Analysis

Abstract

Open educational resources (OERs) are materials that can be freely downloaded, edited, and shared to better serve all students. These resources are typically free of cost, reducing barriers to access for students and ensuring that all learners can have access to educational materials regardless of their financial status. OERs have been demonstrated to improve student performance and retention, especially for students traditionally underrepresented in higher education (e.g., first-generation, non-White students). Although there have been informal calls for additional OERs in behavior analysis, it is unclear whether behavior-analytic OERs exist. The aim of the current study was to use an OER aggregating metafinder to review what OERs are available on topics related to behavior analysis and whether sufficient resources exist to serve as primary course materials. Results indicate that OERs for behavior-analytic content exist but tend to be written by nonbehaviorists for use in survey courses in mainstream psychology. There also do not appear to be sufficient resources to support a course. Implications for promoting the development and dissemination of OERs, particularly with respect to increasing the recruitment and retention of diverse students in the field of behavior analysis, are discussed.

Realising New Open Educational Resources Achievement during Open and Distance Learning of First Year Local Accounting Undergraduates

“…This suggested that these Gen-Z students who had the knowledge about technology and electronic devices would favour adopting OER during ODL as they will benefit from it the most. Apart from that, these findings suggested OER during ODL in this institution is friendly because it can be easily accessed at anytime and anywhere (Krelja, 2016;Howard, 2019) as long as the internet connection is good. Then, having OER during ODL is also friendly because it can replace traditional textbooks which will reduce students' financial burden (Swigart and Liang, 2016), but rather students just have to incur a small amount of cost if they want to print the notes.…”

“…Therefore, the use of OER to replace the traditional textbook can substantially reduce the students' financial burden. Krelja (2016); Howard (2019) supported that OER has become a great opportunity for everyone who wants to learn as the digital resources are accessible to everyone and can be adopted or adapted to the students' needs. The students only incur the cost of printing if they want to print out the materials.…”

“…Furthermore, these findings also suggested that changes in their study habit in using OER during ODL are also high due to the reason that OER support compatibility of students way of life during this pandemic crisis of COVID-19. OER during ODL has become a great opportunity for students who want to learn while having to perform the part-time job to support their life, as the learning materials are accessible to everyone that can be adopted or adapted to the students' needs and way of life (Krelja, 2016;Howard, 2019). Item 2 and 4 show the highest score for Disagree-Strongly Disagree with 33.4% are not eager to respond to group discussion using OER during ODL on OER during the ODL via Learning Management System (LMS) and using OER during ODL will not increase their interaction in the subject matter.…”

Evaluating Sources of Continuing Education and Professional Development Used by Behavior Analysts

“…The increased presence is promising in terms of broader dissemination of the science of behavior (Kelly et al, 2019 ). Further, some researchers have argued that BCBAs may be better served by using the information provided freely, such as through social media or podcasts (e.g., YouTube; Howard, 2019 ). However, when individuals seek out clinical advice and professional development from non-peer-reviewed content, this could be ethically untenable, because these individuals providing advice are not always ACE providers and may not be operating under the guidance or regulation of the BACB (Luo et al, 2020 ).…”

Open Educational Resource-Enabled Pedagogy to Improve Student Outcomes in Nutrition Course

“…19 As a field becomes more specialized, such as the field of dietetics and nutrition (DN), fewer high-quality OER exist. 20,21 An OEP project was implemented as part of the University of Alaska Advanced Nutrition class, a course that is taught entirely online using an asynchronous format in the DN bachelor's degree curriculum. Students were required to create an openly licensed informational product (eg, PowerPoint or VoiceThread slide show, infographic, video, brochure, interactive module) on the topic of nutrigenomics as a method to increase learner engagement with nutrigenomics primary source content, improving student understanding of this rapidly evolving specialty.…”