Open Educational Resources in Criminal Justice: Equity and community college students

• In Event: 2222 - Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable Session
  In Informal Discussion Roundtable: Table 05. Teaching for Social Justice and Human Rights

Abstract

Community college students face multiple barriers to degree completion. As the cost of higher education rises, Open Educational Resources (OER) may help reduce barriers. OER describes concrete content, a form of practice, and a worldwide movement. As UNESCO (2017) says:
Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license… anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them.
OER is also about realizing a commitment to “participation and co-creation” (OER Commons, 2017). Even as class and race barriers to education remain, OER offers tangible savings to under-resourced students, many of whom are black and brown, as well as benefits to faculty as they re-think curricula.
Observers, and a growing body of research acknowledges that OER provides an opportunity for pedagogical enhancement, cost-savings for students, and a chance to decide which values higher education will promote (see Almeida, 2017).
Since 2015, at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), faculty have been working closely with the Open Knowledge librarian to become educated about OER, and to implement it in courses across many disciplines. The Criminal Justice Program embraced the idea to transform all of the courses in our major into OER courses.
The majority of community college students at the City University New York come from households making less than $20,000 annually. One quarter work for pay for at least 20 hours per week. In this context, the library sought ways to move away from prohibitively expensive textbooks toward more affordable, yet high-quality resources.
In this workshop, we would discuss the process of implementing OER at our campus, discuss findings from research with students and faculty in OER courses, share examples of OER courses, and explore the challenges of equity that OER can and cannot address.

Authors

• Jean Amaral, City University of New York-Borough of Manhattan Community College

• Shirley Leyro, Borough of Manhattan Community College

• Brenda K. Vollman, City University of New York-Borough of Manhattan Community College