My purpose for moving to open

This morning I began learning more about Open.  (If you're unfamiliar with this term, it's the idea that there are resources that can be used that are open instead of restricted access).  I like the podcast Teaching in Higher Ed and when I saw that Tannis Morgan spoke about open resources I decided to listen.  It was a great podcast.  It was a few years old so I don't think the information was as current as I can find elsewhere, but it was a great place for me to start.

Tannis Morgan posed the question:  What is your purpose to migrate towards open?  That gave me pause.  I teach Spanish 1411, 1412, 2311, 2312 and am currently teaching a brand new class that is an elective for our Upward Bound summer academy:  Enhancing Leadership through Technology.  In the near future I hope to build a SPAN 1300 which is conversational Spanish.

Up to now, my Spanish classes have used Cengage's Plazas curriculum because it was what was chosen by the Spanish professor before me.  I've liked Plazas very much, but I noticed that the digital site was confusing for students.  I switched to McGraw-Hill's Puntos de Partida for this summer and the next school year.  So far, it looks fantastic.

For the leadership class, I used Open Educational Resources.  I didn't ask students to purchase a text.  I used many articles, videos and a few ebook chapters that students can utilize without cost.  My father-in-law taught leadership classes at Texas A&M and Tarleton for years.  When I told him about the opportunity to teach a leadership and technology class, he offered me his materials from his freshman leadership class.  The material is excellent and it gave me a great place to begin building this class.

Back to Tannis's question:  why am I migrating towards open?  
#1-cost.  Curriculum is expensive.  I'm teaching a summer session beginning Monday that requires all students to purchase the digital access to the Spanish curriculum--$139.  When I began teaching Spanish as an adjunct, the Cengage text was $425.  I'm so glad the cost has gone down, but $139 is still a lot of money.  

#2-hassles.  Every semester I have students who don't purchase the curriculum at the start of class and they get behind.  If I used OER the materials would be ready to go and this hassle would be gone.  There are already so many roadblocks that can get in the way of student success.  If I can remove this one it would be great.

#3-cooperation with others.  I like the thought of joining in with others who are working to make education great.  I would like to be a part of that community.

#4-more control.  I learned over the COVID-19 move online that I really like using projects in class.  The projects really had nothing to do with curriculum and I like the freedom it gives students.  This is an idea I want to explore further in the future and OER would give students many more options.

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