Textbook Affordability Matters: World Language Faculty Perspectives on Open Educational Resources (OER) Implementation and Challenges
Journal Article
Pak, Chin-Sook and Brunet, Marie-Line

Published2025
JournalConnections
Volume 13, Pages 24-39
PublisherForeign Language Association of Northern California
CountryUnited States, North America

ABSTRACT
Textbook affordability is a significant concern for college students facing the financial burdens of higher education in the United States. For World Language programs already grappling with enrollment challenges, access to affordable and high-quality textbook options is crucial for sustainability. Although research highlights Open Educational Resources (OER) as a viable solution for reducing costs, a gap persists between the scholarship on OER's benefits and actual faculty adoption, resulting in underutilization. This study, based on interviews with 19 faculty members in a world languages department at a public institution in a small Midwestern city, explores the reasons behind faculty reluctance to adopt OER and offers recommendations for the institutional support and professional development needed to facilitate successful integration.

Keywords open educational resources · OER · textbook affordability · enrollment in World Languages · faculty professional development

Published atIndiana
LanguageEnglish
ISSN1945-0478
RefereedYes
URLhttps://static1.squarespace.com/static/602abb8ff6b7c4321ae3742b/t/68e9d7e2ee100c16ddb56b38/1760155618960/Connections_Volume13_2025.pdf#page=32
Export optionsBibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar


Viewed by 18 distinct readers



CLOUD COMMUNITY REVIEWS

The evaluations below represent the judgements of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cloud editors.

Click a star to be the first to rate this document


▶ POST A COMMENT
SIMILAR RECORDS

THE IMPACT AND PERCEPTIONS OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND OER-ENABLED PEDAGOGY ON AFFORDABILITY, ENROLLMENT, AND STUDENT SUCCESS IN UNDERGRADUATE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
Burr, Justin
Open educational resources (OER) can help improve the affordability of higher education. While the impacts of OER on student success and cost savings have been studied in some areas, the literature lacks evidence for ...
Match: affordability; oer; united states; north america

Creating faculty professional development on OER
Kinskey, Caroline; Miller, Carrie
A Campus Textbook Affordability Grant was awarded to an instructional designer to create a professional development program for faculty. Twelve university instructors and teaching assistants participated in the program ...
Match: oer; textbook affordability; faculty professional development; united states; north america

OER implementation in the Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
McGreal, Rory
The Federal University of Parana, (UFPR) Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba, Brazil began its OER implementation with multiple, interconnected motivations: Expand the dissemination of knowledge; Promote ...
Match: implementation; oer

A mathematics OER implementation at Scottsdale Community College, Arizona, USA
McGreal, Rory
Scottsdale Community College (SCC) in Scottsdale, Arizona offers courses to more than 10,000 students from a wide range of communities, including immigrants and Native Americans. These students experience the normal ...
Match: implementation; united states; north america

Textbook Broke: Textbook Affordability as a Social Justice Issue
Jenkins, J. Jacob; Sánchez, Luis A.; Schraedley, Megan A. K.; Hannans, Jaime; et al.
In light of rising textbook prices, open education resources (OER) have been shown to decrease non-tuition costs, while simultaneously increasing academic access, student performance, and time-to-graduation rates. Yet ...
Match: affordability; oer; united states; north america

Open educational resources (OER): An exploratory study on implementation methods of OER in higher education
Miller, Amy W.
The goal of this qualitative research study was to explore the implementation strategies and methods of Open Educational Resources (OER) and programs that universities are currently using in order to detect and analyze ...
Match: implementation; united states; north america

Part two - Promotion and adoption of textbook affordability and affordable course materials: Forensic Science
Avila, Sandra
Match: affordability; textbook affordability; united states; north america

K-12 OER collaborative implementation study final report
K12 Handhelds
The purpose of this project was to look at the adoption and implementation of K-12 core instructional materials in math and English Language Arts (ELA) and to explore business models for the successful and sustainable ...
Match: implementation; united states; north america

A qualitative investigation of faculty Open Educational Resource usage in the Washington Community and Technical College System: Models for support and implementation
Chae, Boyoung; Jenkins, Mark; Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges
This report is based on interviews with 60 faculty in Washington’s community and technical college system which was built upon a previous state-wide survey with 770 faculty. Faculty were queried about: * how and ...
Match: implementation; oer; united states

Faculty barriers to using open educational resources
LeMire, Sarah
As open educational resources (OER) have become increasingly popular in higher education in the United States, OER advocates continue to encourage faculty to consider switching to open textbooks in their classes. ...
Match: affordability; oer; united states; north america