Abstract
Introduction to the Special Issue
The adoption of open educational resources (OER) is rapidly becoming a normative practice in higher education, in part due to the cost savings associated with the use of these free resources and in part due to the pedagogical flexibility afforded by open licensing (Allen, 2018; Hodgkinson-Williams & Arinto, 2017; Seaman & Seaman, 2017). Given its popularity as an undergraduate course of study, Psychology enjoys an abundance of OER such as open textbooks (see: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/psychology); however, only a few studies in the open education literature have specifically assessed the perceptions and outcomes of OER use in Psychology courses. Similarly, although open pedagogical practices such as participation in the Association for Psychological Science’s Wikipedia Initiative (see: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/members/aps-wikipedia-initiative) or having Psychology students write op-ed pieces (see: http://www.actionteaching.org/award/action-writing) are increasingly displacing conventional activities and assessments in psychology courses, there is a need to both better understand precisely what open pedagogy entails and study the impact of such practices on educational outcomes. This special issue of Psychology Learning and Teaching features empirical investigations of the perceptions, use, and outcomes of OER as well as discussions of innovative applications of open pedagogy, in the context of learning and teaching psychology.
The Current Issue
The current issue contains one review, four articles, and one report. In addition, this issue contains abstracts of the current issues of Psychology Teaching Review (PTR24(2)) and Teaching of Psychology (ToP45(4)).
In her review, Clinton synthesizes and integrates the findings of eight empirical studies that have investigated cost savings, student outcomes, use, and perceptions of OER (known collectively as the COUP framework) in Psychology courses. Overall, she finds that OER adoption yields significant cost savings while leading to similar or better course outcomes, use, and perceptions of quality.
The first article, by Grissett and Huffman, investigated the impact of both open and commercial textbooks on students’ performance within an Introductory Psychology course, while also measuring the students’ use and perceptions of both types of textbooks. Care was taken to minimize the effect of confounding variables and no differences were found across the textbook conditions in either course performance or textbook use. Although the students attributed different advantages to both types of textbooks, they showed a preference for using the textbook they had been assigned.
The second article, by Engler and Shedlosky-Shoemaker, similarly investigated the impact of open textbook adoption on exam performance within an Introductory Psychology course. Echoing the results from the first article, the researchers found no differences in exam performance, even after controlling for student differences.
The third article, by Hardin, Eschman, Spengler, Grizzell, Moody, Ross-Sheehy, and Fry, controlled for both course and instructor characteristics while comparing student learning outcomes across multiple sections of a General Psychology course taught by well-trained graduate student instructors. The results showed that the development of critical thinking was unaffected by the choice of textbook. Interestingly, students assigned the open textbook showed a slight increase in content mastery, an effect that was driven by gains from both the lowest and highest performing students. Finally, the results also showed that the lower cost of the open textbook influenced the decisions of students from traditionally underserved populations to enroll in and persist through the course.
In the fourth and final article, Cuttler investigated the use and perceptions of open and commercial textbooks by students enrolled in several different online and face-to-face classes. The results showed that students assigned open textbooks used their textbook more, perceived a greater overlap between content in their textbook and the material covered during lectures and tested in quizzes, and rated the quality of their textbook as significantly higher.
Finally, in their report, Seraphin, Grizzell, Kerr-German, Perkins, Grzanka, and Hardin provide a model for conceptualizing a prominent form of open pedagogy known as “non-disposable assignments.” They propose the three dimensions of time, space, and gravity along which non-disposable assignments may be understood and go on to provide supporting rationales and guides for the implementation of this innovative approach to teaching and learning, as well as for using these dimensions to inform future research.
Looking across the four empirical studies in this special issue, it is evident that despite their different foci and designs, the overall conclusion is very much in concert with that of the review paper: that the use of open textbooks in place of commercial textbooks does not disadvantage students and that, beyond the question of doing no harm, the cost savings associated with the use of open textbooks are sometimes accompanied with benefits for both access and learning. Given the convergence of the findings contained within this special issue and a recent review of the broader literature on OER efficacy and perceptions (Hilton, 2016), we humbly suggest that the question of the impact of open textbooks on learning has largely been answered and that, as is the case in so many other areas within the scholarship of teaching and learning, the instructor and what the instructor does in the classroom has a much greater impact on learning than does the type of textbook. We therefore suggest that future research investigate mediating and moderating factors (e.g., related to instructor practices).
Collectively, the studies in this special issue spotlight the importance of effective teaching practices, which are ultimately critical in any curriculum. To better prepare the new professoriate for the modern demands of teaching in higher education, graduate programs in Psychology should ensure that training for teaching is part of graduate student training. Early career and established faculty might seek to expand and enhance their teaching skills by participating in teaching development through their professional organizations or by attending regional or national teaching conferences. Looking forward, we call for a focus on training and developing skilled and knowledgeable teachers who will be well-equipped to unleash the full potential of OER and open pedagogy to the benefit of their students.
We hope you enjoy reading this special issue!