Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D., of Kwantlen Polytechnic University and an open education advocate, spoke to Ohio State participants at the 2017 Innovate Conference this May.
Jhangiani has studied the higher education environment, and he pointed to the state of Ohio as typical of lowered state educational funding placing an increasing burden on tuitions. One of the few aspects of higher education attendance costs that faculty have control over, he argued, is related to course materials.
Since 1971, he said, course material costs have increased over 1,000%. “There’s no other consumer good – AT ALL,” Jhangiani said, “that comes close …. Not even healthcare.” He asked faculty and administrators at OSU to put themselves in the mind of a student. A study of 22,0000 students in Florida in 2012 and 2016 showed that 66.5% don’t buy all the required textbooks; 47.6% take fewer classes as a result of course material costs; and 45.5% don’t take a particular course because of high course materials cost.
Moreover, publishers who sell students materials and restrict access to the materials afterwards or don’t allow printing after the course are “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Jhangiani argued for open resources to support classes, which allow faculty to “revise and remix” content, increasing and “reclaiming” academic freedom. The number of open resources available through sites like guttenberg.org, open.bccampus.ca, open.umn.edu, openstax.org, and others “look, smell, and taste like a Pearson book.”
Thirteen peer reviewed studies of the efficacy of open resources or textbooks representing 119,720 students showed 95% of are doing the same or better when these resources are used as opposed to traditional textbooks and materials. In addition, drops, retention, and passing grades are better.
In addition, Jhangiani said, “traditional assignments suck energy. What if we grow up and fix the problem?”
For example, he said, “Wikipedia is the first port of call for students, and … if we’re honest, the first port of call for faculty.” Wikipedia always needs more articles about scientists and sciences. “What if students write them?” he asked. Moreover, “what if students write the questions for assignments? It takes a deep understanding to write distractors.”
This process moves from the concept of open resources to OPEN PEDAGOGY. Jhangiani suggested educators craft policies and delivery systems with little thought about their effect on students. He pointed to learning management systems (Blackboard, Canvas) as exemplifying that “learning is best done by management.”
“Ideology is embedded in every technology,” he explained. “What are we here for?”
According to Jhangiani, deep learning is not about content transfer. “I’m going to challenge you,” he told participants, to think more and more about collaboration and sharing and not leaving decisions about student learning to only the people in the room.
Jhangiani’s presentation is available for viewing. His slides are open resources available for use or remixing. His book, Open: The Philosophy and Practices That Are Revolutionizing Science and Education, is available for anyone to download and read.