Dissertation
Community college professors' perceptions of open educational resources and their impact on student success and social justice in education: an instrumental case study
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Drexel University
Mar 2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000352
Abstract
The purpose of this instrumental qualitative case study was to address the challenges that community college professors face when curating or creating high-quality and low- or no-cost open educational resources (OERs), the accessibility of the resources, and the impact OER has on student success and social justice in education. The goal of this instrumental qualitative case study was to examine faculty's perceptions of OERs and explore whether and how the professors thought use of OERs helps to improve student engagement and student success in the classroom. In seeking to explore community college professors' perceptions of OER and their impact on student engagement and student success, the researcher used an instrumental qualitative case study. The target population for this study was full- and part-time faculty members who have created, curated, or have taught at least one semester (in the face-to-face, blended, or distance learning formats) using OER course content. This study utilized purposeful sampling and an additional participant was identified, invited and accepted the invitation as a result of the snowballing approach to selecting participants. The researcher conducted 12 semistructured interviews using open-ended questions to collect the data for this study. Analysis of the interviews led to the development of 5 themes and 10 subthemes associated with the data. The researcher's interpretations led to three results. Based on the data and research findings, the researcher concluded that social justice in education emerged as being implied and woven through all participants' responses. A comprehensive discussion on social justice in education is a subject for further research. There were three recommendations for practice covering these topic areas: (a) continue to foster the development and curation of OER, working collaboratively with partners internal and external to the institution; and (b) develop and promote OEP that allow students to acquire skills and knowledge, learning from their own and each other's experiences; (c) create flexible and sustainable course design for the post-pandemic environment. There were two recommendations for future research as follows: (a) broaden the approach to work toward social justice in education; and (b) recognize students as producers and creators of content and provide them with interactive learning environments in which to learn and become agents of change. Keywords: open educational resources (OER), social justice in education community college, student engagement, student success, faculty perceptions, benefits to students, inclusive learning environment, student creators of content, OER quality
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Details
- Title
- Community college professors' perceptions of open educational resources and their impact on student success and social justice in education
- Creators
- Sharon Moskowitz Kauffman
- Contributors
- Joy C. Phillips (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xi, 128 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education (1997-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991014962647404721