Effectiveness of OER Use in First-Year Higher Education Students’ Mathematical Course Performance

A Case Study

Authors

  • Juan Ignacio Venegas Muggli Universidad Tecnológica de Chile INACAP
  • Werner Westermann Library of National Congress of Chile

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v20i2.3521

Keywords:

OER, Khan Academy, open textbook, higher education

Abstract

This article examines the effect of two Open Educational Resources (OER) - Khan Academy Collection and a teacher-authored open textbook - on mathematical course performance and attendance amongst first-year higher education Chilean students. It also aims to find out about teachers’ and students’ views on the use of OER in order to understand how these resources are used and valued. To this end, quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. Findings indicate that students in face-to-face classes who used Khan Academy resources obtained better examination grades than students who used the open textbook or relied on traditional proprietary textbooks. Moreover, it was also found that students who used both types of OER had significantly lower attendance levels than students who relied on traditional proprietary textbooks. Finally, it was observed that teachers and students had very positive opinions on the use of both the Khan Academy Collection and open textbook resources.

Author Biography

Werner Westermann, Library of National Congress of Chile

Chief of Civic Education Program at the Library of National Congress of Chile since 2015.  20 years of experience in education promoted by media and digital technologíes, virtual learning environments and digital educational resources in public (Ministry of Education), international (ECLAC-UN), various higher education institutions and NGOs.

Open Education Advocate. Co-writer of the Cape Town Open Education Declaration. Project lead for Subproject 9 of the ROER4D research programme. Institute of Open Leadeship fellow of the Open Policy Network.

 

Published

2019-04-30

How to Cite

Venegas Muggli, J. I., & Westermann, W. (2019). Effectiveness of OER Use in First-Year Higher Education Students’ Mathematical Course Performance: A Case Study . The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v20i2.3521

Issue

Section

Research Articles