The researchers will present a comparative analysis conducted between courses that utilized a teacher-developed OER and a commercial textbook for a 300-level online undergraduate nursing course.
The OER is a 138-page text containing six chapters with a CC-BY Creative Commons license. OER content covers all course topics and learning activities. The OER contains substantially more depth and breadth of course topics compared to the commercial textbook. The OER was peer reviewed by the School of Nursing Curriculum Committee prior to use in this study.
The sample for this study included 160 nursing students enrolled in an online RN to BSN course during the spring (6 sections), summer (2 sections), and fall (5 sections) semesters in 2019. Seven-week sections are offered twice per semester with multiple sections running simultaneously. Students used the commercial textbook in the Spring semester and the OER in Summer and Fall semesters. To control for teacher effect, the same three instructors taught all sections of the courses throughout the study period. These instructors have taught the course for several years and were proficient in the content. Each instructor taught similar numbers of students in the CT and OER groups. The researchers were unable to control for students (GPA, financial aid recipient, etc.) due to the lack of student participation in the study.
The results found there was no statistically significant difference in assignment, discussion forum, or final grades. Similar learning gains were found between OER and the commercial textbook cohorts.
This study shares timely knowledge about the use of OER in undergraduate online nursing education, a discipline with minimal OER outcomes data. At a time when competition for nursing program enrollment is high, nursing faculty have an essential tool, adoption and creation of OER, to attract students to their institution. This study addressed the current gaps in knowledge related to outcomes when using an OER in online nursing education.
Learning Outcomes: Attendees will understand the impact of a teacher-developed OER and how it can offer students similar learning gains compared to a traditional commercial textbook.
