English Professor Stephanie Pesce has taught at MCC for the last 15 years and has been using OER for the past three years. She tells us that what drew her to OER was: “Accessibility and cost for students; consistency for me as a professor to be sure all students could access the same material at the same time without barriers…While lowering or eliminating costs for students may be the main draw, I think ensuring timeliness and relevance by being able to update/customize material is one of the greatest assets to OER…Cost is first and foremost, but also, the ease of use, the consistency and delivery of the material, and digital content embedded in Blackboard with question sets for convenience/reference.”
In terms of whether students have given her feedback on OER, she tells us, “Yes, most are very pleased and feel the relief of the cost concerns, but some prefer print physical material, which, by request, I have printed, because as a dinosaur myself, I understand. I have printed and copied some material.” She advises faculty, “Stick with it -- I think change can be difficult when it comes to the material we are used to assigning (as it was for me), but after spending a little time on the front end to figure it out, I made some improvements to the course by adopting OER,. Admittedly, some of these changes came about reluctantly when certain selections weren't available, but I view all of them positively now. I adopted/created much of this prior to the pandemic, but once physical bookstores and access became an additional concern, I appreciated it all the more, and I think students did, too.”
We are so grateful to have your support behind OER, Professor Pesce!
