Module 9: A Look at OER In texas

Texas OER Survey & Landscape Analysis 

In 2019 the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex), in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), began conducting a biennial survey to examine the landscape of OER programs, policies, and practices at non profit higher education institutions in Texas. The first survey was administered to 158 two-year and four-year public and private institutions of higher education in the state. With responses from 100 of these institutions, a clear picture of expanding OER use and adoption in Texas presented itself.  The full report is available online: Open Educational Resources (OER) in Texas Higher Education 2019. 

The second iteration of this survey was administered in spring 2021 to the same institutions but expanded to include the state’s public health-related institutions. The survey analysis, building on data from the first survey, shows continued growth in commitment to OER across the state, with 45% of institutions having formal policies or programs in place to support OER, compared to 38% in 2019. The percentage of institutions with a formal definition of OER and with OER course markers in place also increased, alongside the availability of fully-OER based courses—especially at the state’s two-year colleges. Furthermore, about one-third of institutions across the state are beginning to provide comprehensive, systems-based supports for OER by engaging multiple offices and roles on campus, from students, to library staff, to Faculty Excellence Center staff, to Digital Learning Staff.

At the same time, the survey findings also reveal insights into priority areas and challenges for some institutions as they work to advance OER adoption and use: 

• While the large majority of institutions in 2021 identify the importance of increasing faculty buy-in in order to grow OER adoption, there has been a decrease in the number of institutions that offer faculty incentives to encourage OER use since 2019. 

• OER professional learning has remained stagnant, with the large majority of institutions reporting in both 2019 and 2021 that less than 10% of their faculty have been trained on OER. 

• The large majority of institutions in 2021 have not yet taken advantage of statewide OER support initiatives such

as those described in this module. 

The report concludes by outlining opportunities for addressing existing barriers to OER scale, and for advancing the work being done by the state’s OER champions—including new collaboration, professional learning, funding, and curriculum development supports focused on building an OER ecosystem within and across Texas institutions. The full report is available online: Advancing an Ecosystem for Open Educational Resources: OER in Texas Higher Education Biennial Report 2021.  

Open Texas

Open Texas is the annual statewide conference on open education. The Texas Digital Library (TDL), THECB, and DigiTex jointly organize the event to convene librarians, faculty, administrators, and other open education practitioners and advocates in Texas. The conference follows two prior statewide events, the 2018 OER Summit and the 2019 Open Education Texas Convening. 

The inaugural conference, Open Texas 2021, was held virtually via OpenWater on March 11-12, and co-hosted by Houston Community College, the Houston Area OER Consortium, and the University of Houston-Downtown. Over 1,100 registrants from Texas and other states and 70+ speakers contributed to plenary, concurrent, and networking sessions over the two days. Presentation materials are available here, and session recordings are on the conference playlist on the TDL YouTube channel. The next Open Texas will be held in fall 2022.

In 2022 the Texas Digital Library, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and DigiTex again came together to co-organize the 2nd annual Open Texas conference, which also met virtually from September 21-23. Spanning three full days with 96 speakers, 1,076 registrants from 25 states and 4 countries, and a variety of presentation formats, there was something for every practitioner of OER. 

Texas OER Legislation

Across the country, 29 states have legislation and policy in support of OER. This number continues to grow. SPARC has an online tool for tracking state policy and legislation on OER. Their State-by-State policy tracker is updated weekly during the legislative session and is a useful resource for understanding OER policy across the country and within our state. 

In Texas there are several key pieces of legislation related to open educational resources. In 2017 the Texas Legislature passed SB 810 relating to open educational resources. This bill has three major components: 

• 1. Created a statewide OER grant program to encourage faculty at institutions of higher education to adopt, modify, redesign, or develop courses that use only open educational resources.

  2. Established protocols for OER course designations in course catalogs including discoverability by students to search for OER courses.  

  3. Ordered a statewide feasibility study to determine the feasibility of creating a state repository of open educational resources. HB3652 described below is a direct result of this feasibility study.

The second piece of this bill will be discussed in more detail in the next section, Marking Your OER Courses.  

Two other significant OER bills in the state include:

• • HB 3652 (2019): This bill requires the THECB to contract with a high-quality open educational resource repository to develop and maintain a web portal customized to meet the needs of individual institutions of higher education, students, and others who may benefit from access to open educational resources.

On September 1, 2020, the OERTX Repository launched. Created in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, OERTX is a public digital library of open educational resources for higher education. It provides the ability for groups to create network hubs to share collections associated with a project or organization.

• • HB 3650 (2019): This bill amends existing law and requires agreements between school districts and public institutions of higher education that provide dual credit programs to consider the use of free or low-cost open educational resources in courses offered under the program.

During the 87th Regular Session of the legislature in 2021, Texas adopted the first law in the nation to increase transparency for automatic textbook billing programs (also known as “inclusive access programs”). House Bill 1027 requires that Texas public colleges and universities explicitly disclose within the institution’s course schedule the fee amount, student data terms of use, and opt-out procedure for course materials that will be automatically billed, along with other associated charges. HB 1027 also requires institutions to itemize any course material fees charged to student accounts and ensures that relevant vendor agreements are public records. 

Marking Your OER Courses

Mentioned previously, one aspect of SB810 establishes protocols for OER course designations in course catalogs and registration systems. Below is an excerpt from the legislation:

Institutions across the state are currently working within their organizations to comply with this requirement. To assist with this process Michelle Reed, Director of Open Education at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, created a useful Texas Toolkit for OER Course Marking. On March 4, 2020, DigiTex hosted a webinar which explored this specific requirement of the legislation in more detail. The webinar’s featured speakers were Scott Hochberg, OER Public Policy Consultant and former Member, Texas House of Representatives, Michelle Reed, former Associate Librarian and Director of OER, University of Texas at Arlington; and Ursula Pike, Associate Director, DigiTex, and former Coordinator, OER Initiative, Austin Community College.

The toolkit and webinar are accessible below.

• • Texas Toolkit for OER Course Marking - online guide by Michelle Reed

  • OER Course Marking in Texas - DigiTex webinar with Scott Hochberg, Michelle Reed, and Ursula Pike

  • Marking Open and Affordable Courses: Best Practices and Case Studies - an expansion of the Toolkit linked above, this resource provides a comprehensive look at OER course marking case studies and best practices across the country.

The use of OER course labeling also informs your campus bookstore of your course materials adoption. This allows it to show students on its site that your course is an OER section. More importantly, this also allows the course to be searchable by students as an OER course section in the registration system and course schedule. Remember, the biggest benefit to students is when they can PLAN their OER course selections ahead of time, but also ensures that you are in compliance with the requirements of SB810. Making this course marking feature work successfully requires collaboration across various institutional departments and with a number of stakeholders.

Zero Textbook Cost: ZTC (free) vs. OER (open = free + permissions)

Looking back at Module 2, you learned that free and open are not synonymous. A resource, like an eBook or streaming video from a library database, may be free to use by your students, but it is not openly licensed. Instead that eBook and video are copyrighted all rights reserved. They can still be used as a zero cost resource for course material, but the permissions on reuse, modification, and redistribution are different. 

Across the state, institutions have branded their OER courses with a variety of terms such as ZTC (zero textbook cost) or low-cost. This labeling is key in institutions as it allows for easier compliance to SB810 OER Course Marking requirements. Below is an example of current terminology noted in one institution's course schedule for students:

This is a ZTC-class (Zero Textbook Costs section). In place of required textbooks, all textbook materials needed for the class will be available online to students free of charge. Students may print copies of the resources but will be responsible for printing costs. Course materials may be Open Educational Resources (OER), see syllabus for specifics.

As classroom faculty, whether you choose to use an open educational resource or other freely available course material is the decision of you and your department. However, it is important to keep in mind and apply what you’ve learned in these modules:

• • Keep the distinctions between free and open clear. 

  • Fully understand the reuse, adaptation, and redistribution permissions for the material you’ve chosen. 

  • Adopt tools to track, organize, and evaluate your resources.

  • Fully understanding the differences between free and open can save you, your department, and the institution from copyright violations as well as challenges to the fair use permissions. 

Support for OER

Support from the State 

In addition to the aforementioned repository, OERTX, and the state-funded grant program, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board manages a federally-funded grant program, the Open Educational Resources Course Development and Implementation Grant Program. This program stems from the Governor’s Emergency Educational Relief (GEER) Fund, which originates from the U.S. Department of Education’s administration of the Education Stabilization Fund in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.  Additionally, in fall 2020, the THECB created the new Division of Digital Learning, which oversees the agency’s open education initiatives. This division has implemented the OER Core Elements academy, a professional learning cohort that explores the fundamentals of OER and innovative instructional integration

Support Locally at Your Institution

Support and training for faculty adoption of OER varies from institution to institution. When it happens successfully, it happens with collaboration and commitment from departments and divisions across a college or university. Libraries, Centers for Teaching & Learning, or Faculty Development Departments are often at the forefront of OER support and training. There are also other valuable stakeholders ensuring faculty and students are successful with the adoption and use of OER. These include administrators, department chairs, advisors, counselors, institutional effectiveness or assessment offices, marketing, bookstores, and most importantly, our students. Highlighted earlier in this module, The Texas Landscape Study on OER reported that 20% of institutions identified that  their student groups serve as active supporters of and advocates for OER.Reach out to those at your institution who can help you with adoption, use, and creation of open educational resources. Start the conversations with the colleagues in your department, many of whom may already have experience with open educational resources. 

Support Globally from the Open Community

Education is sharing. The open community values this commitment to sharing resources and expertise with others. Several organizations supporting open education and open educational resources are listed below. These communities, which are made up of open education experts from around the world, are excellent resources for questions, support, and collaboration. You are encouraged to take advantage of the free training, listservs, and the wealth of knowledge this community can provide.

• • Texas OER Community for Higher Education Google Group 

  • Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER)

  • SPARC

  • Open Textbook Network

  • OE Global (Global Open Education Network)

  • Creative Commons Certificate Program

  • Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) - Make Textbooks Affordable campaign