“Opening” Art History: Exploring the Motivations and Practices of Faculty using Open Educational Resources in Lower-Level and General Education Art History Courses

Abstract

Although over the years the conceptual understanding of OER has improved, more insights are needed on faculty's discipline-specific practices with OER. This study explored the motivations and OER-related practices of faculty in lower-level and general education (GE) undergraduate art history courses in the United States. Using twelve in-depth interviews conducted over nineteen months, it investigated why, how and to what ends a diverse group of art historians use OER and related practices in their teaching. The study found six, discipline-specific main motivations for adopting OER, which extend well beyond cost savings for students. At the same time, only small changes were reported in faculty's teaching practices as a result of adopting OER. That is, OER didn't simply trigger pedagogical innovation by virtue of being adopted. Instead, these resources were strategically utilized by faculty to address existing teaching needs and goals, which were shaped by broader conversations and concerns within the field of art history. This suggests that it is impossible to disconnect OER from current pedagogic practices and models, as well as the social and disciplinary context in which they are employed.

Textbook Affordability Initiatives and Open Educational Resources: Complementary or Competing Approaches to a Persistent Problem?

“…They also have more flexibility in what content is presented and how it is organized, they can include more recent content-even current events-and bring geographically distant or super local content into the classroom. 7 Many librarians have proposed affordability initiatives as a solution, acknowledging that teaching faculty are responsible for selecting and assigning course materials and librarians serve in a supporting role. 8 The authors have not identified any published studies that compare the benefits and challenges of OER and affordability initiatives, and this presentation seeks to fill that gap.…”

An Initiative to Develop OER-Based General Education Courses in Higher Education

“…Some studies focus on the use of OERs to alleviate student financial pressure to achieve social inclusion and educational equity (Abramovich & McBride, 2018;Baker & Sibona, 2022). Other researchers investigate OER creation in specific disciplines, students' perceptions and learning outcomes, and instructors' motivations (Chtena, 2021;Kalaf-Hughes, 2021). However, limited research is available to describe and discuss OERbased course design and development in general education courses (Valentino & Hopkins, 2020).…”