Impact of Open Education Resources (OER) on Student Academic Performance and Retention Rates in Undergraduate Engineering Departments

Yongchao Zhao; Ashwin Satyanarayana; Cailean Cooney

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Conference: 2020 Fall ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Meeting
Location: Virtual (hosted by Stevens Institute of Technology)
Publication Date: November 7, 2020
Start Date: November 7, 2020
End Date: November 7, 2020
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--36048
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/36048
Download Count: 638

Paper Authors

biography

Yongchao Zhao New York City College of Technology

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Ms. Yongchao Zhao directs the Office of Assessment, Institutional Research and Effectiveness at New York City College of Technology-CUNY. The Office aims to provide leadership in supporting efforts to improve the quality of student learning outcomes through assessment, as well as collect, analyze, interpret, and disseminate accurate and timely information on all aspects of the college’s activities in support of institutional planning, decision-making and reporting.

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Ashwin Satyanarayana New York City College of Technology

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Dr. Ashwin Satyanarayana is currently the Chair and Associate Professor with the Department of Computer Systems Technology, New York City College of Technology (CUNY). Prior to this, Dr. Satyanarayana was a Research Scientist at Microsoft in Seattle from 2006 to 2012, where he worked on several Big Data problems including Query Reformulation on Microsoft’s search engine Bing. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from SUNY, with particular emphasis on Data Mining and Big data analytics. He is an author or co-author of over 25 peer reviewed journal and conference publications and co-authored a textbook – “Essential Aspects of Physical Design and Implementation of Relational Databases.” He has four patents in the area of Search Engine research. He is also a recipient of the Math Olympiad Award, and is currently serving as Chair Elect of the ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) Mid-Atlantic Conference. He also serves as an NSF (National Science Foundation) panelist.

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Cailean Cooney New York City College of Technology, CUNY

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Cailean Cooney is Assistant Professor and OER Librarian at New York City College of Technology, CUNY, where she coordinates the Library’s Open Educational Resources (O.E.R.) initiative. She has published about the impact of O.E.R. on the student experience in Open Praxis and the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. Her interests include foregrounding student-centered approaches and universal design principles into professional development programs.

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Abstract

Beyond college tuition, the high cost of textbooks and supplies is a challenging addition to higher education expenses. The most recent survey data from the College Board indicates a full-time undergraduate can incur at least $1,240 to pay for books and supplies during the 2019-2020 academic year. Moreover, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for digital textbooks is surging, and the price of textbooks has grown significantly and predicted to increase even further. This is compounded by the fact that students are facing more barriers to access course content with restricted access to campus resources. Open textbooks and open educational resources present a viable alternative to costly publisher course content. Open educational resources (O.E.R.) are teaching and learning materials freely available for everyone to use. They are typically openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors.

To students and families already struggling to afford high tuition and fees, spending an additional $1,240 per year on books and supplies can be the breaking point. That’s as much as 39% of tuition and fees at a community college and 14% of tuition and fees at a four-year public institution. Beyond the financial burden, existing research pinpoints a negative impact of lack of textbook access on student’s grades, retention rates, and graduation time.

As a large four-year public institution, New York City College of Technology - CUNY (City Tech) serves a diverse student body where more than 60% of students are considered as economic disadvantaged. Since Fall 2016, O.E.R. initiative has been implemented at City Tech across 28 departments, and 116 courses; Eight of those departments are engineering departments.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the association between O.E.R and student success using data collected from the O.E.R initiative in engineering departments at City Tech. Specifically, we will examine and present the findings on whether O.E.R has a positive impact on student’s grades and retention rates.

Citation
Format

Zhao, Y., & Satyanarayana, A., & Cooney, C. (2020, November), Impact of Open Education Resources (OER) on Student Academic Performance and Retention Rates in Undergraduate Engineering Departments Paper presented at 2020 Fall ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Meeting, Virtual (hosted by Stevens Institute of Technology). 10.18260/1-2--36048

TY - CPAPER
AB - Beyond college tuition, the high cost of textbooks and supplies is a challenging addition to higher education expenses. The most recent survey data from the College Board indicates a full-time undergraduate can incur at least $1,240 to pay for books and supplies during the 2019-2020 academic year. Moreover, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for digital textbooks is surging, and the price of textbooks has grown significantly and predicted to increase even further. This is compounded by the fact that students are facing more barriers to access course content with restricted access to campus resources. Open textbooks and open educational resources present a viable alternative to costly publisher course content. Open educational resources (O.E.R.) are teaching and learning materials freely available for everyone to use. They are typically openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors.

To students and families already struggling to afford high tuition and fees, spending an additional $1,240 per year on books and supplies can be the breaking point. That’s as much as 39% of tuition and fees at a community college and 14% of tuition and fees at a four-year public institution. Beyond the financial burden, existing research pinpoints a negative impact of lack of textbook access on student’s grades, retention rates, and graduation time.

As a large four-year public institution, New York City College of Technology - CUNY (City Tech) serves a diverse student body where more than 60% of students are considered as economic disadvantaged. Since Fall 2016, O.E.R. initiative has been implemented at City Tech across 28 departments, and 116 courses; Eight of those departments are engineering departments.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the association between O.E.R and student success using data collected from the O.E.R initiative in engineering departments at City Tech. Specifically, we will examine and present the findings on whether O.E.R has a positive impact on student’s grades and retention rates.
AU - Yongchao Zhao
AU - Ashwin Satyanarayana
AU - Cailean Cooney
CY - Virtual (hosted by Stevens Institute of Technology)
DA - 2020/11/07
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Impact of Open Education Resources (OER) on Student Academic Performance and Retention Rates in Undergraduate Engineering Departments
UR - https://peer.asee.org/36048
DO - 10.18260/1-2--36048
ER -