{"id":1664,"date":"2020-12-23T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T17:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2025-09-26T12:58:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T19:58:29","slug":"oer-at-work-global-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/oer-at-work-global-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"OER at Work: A positive impact that spans the globe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 2 of political science professor\u2019s story discusses the strengths of OER<\/h2>\n
Editor’s note: <\/strong>This story was originally published on the Oregon State University Division of Educational Ventures news site<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n

Perth, Australia<\/p>\n

Memphis, Tennessee<\/p>\n

Hanoi, Vietnam<\/p>\n

Lagos, Nigeria<\/p>\n

Buenos Aires, Argentina<\/p>\n

Helsinki, Finland<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a small sampling of locations in which people have accessed and used Rorie Solberg\u2019s edited volume of original political science research, Open Judicial Politics<\/a>. It\u2019s an open educational resource that is freely available to learners around the world.<\/p>\n

Solberg, a Ph.D. associate professor in Oregon State University\u2019s School of Public Policy, edited the volume with colleagues Jennifer Segal Diascro and Eric Waltenburg and support from the OSU Open Educational Resources Unit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nearly 3,000 users spread across every continent except Antarctica have perused the textbook in its first year of existence. That single data point illustrates the broad impact of OER, which have endless benefits for students and faculty alike.<\/p>\n

Solberg shared her thoughts on some of those benefits and other topics in this the second part of her OER at Work story. (You can read part one<\/a> about the open textbook\u2019s development process and more.)<\/p>\n

What do you think are the greatest strengths of OER?<\/h3>\n

\u201cFrom my perspective, I can use a chapter or two or only spend a day teaching something from the book without feeling guilty that I had students buy an entire textbook that we don\u2019t devote much time to. Students would sometimes say, \u2018We had this book and we only spent a week on it, and it cost me $50.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, if there\u2019s a book out there and I want to use only a small portion of it, using OER allows me to choose it without worrying about the cost-benefit analysis. The students also don\u2019t need to be concerned about finishing a book in time to return it or sell it back.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother strength is in the way we put this volume together. Because we have different people authoring different sections, it\u2019s a broad representation of the work in political science. It features a lot of different voices, a lot of different styles \u2014 women, scholars of color, junior and senior scholars are all represented. It gives the students a much better sense of who\u2019s in the field and what the field is about rather than a textbook that cites some research but doesn\u2019t show how or why that research was done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you find anything surprising as you developed the volume?<\/h3>\n

\u201cI learned a lot about the copyright law and how it all works. Those sorts of details were a little surprising. It was also surprising that we had more than 15 different scholars, and none of them balked about this being an OER. They understood that someone else could take it and adapt it further and do what they wanted to with it. They were fine with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also putting out a second version of the volume now, adding chapters to it. We wanted to bulk it up a bit more. We have 10 or 11 articles that are being prepared to add to the volume. Several folks who contributed the first time wanted to contribute again. It was awfully nice that they thought it was a good experience and a good way to have their work be seen by a different audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

What challenges did you face in bringing OER into your course?<\/h3>\n

\u201cThere really weren\u2019t any challenges in incorporating the volume. I get to choose what learning resources to use in my course. So\u2026 I used this one (laughs)<\/em>. There\u2019s no one in my program or the School of Public Policy that has any concerns about using OER at this point. We\u2019re committed in the political science program to making an effort to reduce ancillary costs for students, and this is one way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your advice for faculty who want to use OER in their courses?<\/h3>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s an appropriate OER that does the job as well as another textbook you\u2019ve used before, or if you can use part of an OER, I don\u2019t see any reason why you shouldn\u2019t add it to the syllabi. It\u2019s not our job as faculty to determine the direction of textbook publishing or how textbook companies should operate. I think this is the way things are going and there will be more and more resources available in this format. If it benefits the students and you feel an OER is as good as anything else out there, I don\u2019t see a reason not to use one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Learn more about the OSU Open Educational Resources Unit and the support resources available to faculty.<\/em><\/p>\n

Explore OER services<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 3<\/span> minute read<\/span><\/span>Nearly 3,000 users spread across every continent except Antarctica have perused Rorie Solberg’s open textbook, Open Judicial Politics, in its first year of existence. That single data point illustrates the broad impact of OER, which have endless benefits for students and faculty alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,13,702,675],"tags":[640,602,647],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-oer","category-educational-ventures","category-accessing-college","tag-health-and-human-science","tag-oer-at-work","tag-oregon-state-open-educational-resources-unit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/oer-open-texbook-laptop.jpg?fit=744%2C496&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-qQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1671,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/oer-environmental-politics-and-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1664,"position":0},"title":"OER at Work: Open textbook increases affordability, up-to-date information","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The ability to edit the open source text allows my colleague and I to provide updated information instantaneously. With rapidly changing environmental policy issues in the West, this is needed to stay up-to-date.\" \u2013 OSU School of Public Policy assistant professor Erika Wolters","rel":"","context":"In "All Stories"","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of Erika Wolters, assistant professor in Oregon State University's School of Public Policy, who has edited and adopted open educational resources in her courses.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Erika-Wolters-744x478-201210.jpg?fit=744%2C478&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Erika-Wolters-744x478-201210.jpg?fit=744%2C478&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Erika-Wolters-744x478-201210.jpg?fit=744%2C478&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Erika-Wolters-744x478-201210.jpg?fit=744%2C478&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1613,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/oer-at-work-judicial-politics\/","url_meta":{"origin":1664,"position":1},"title":"OER at Work: A volume of original research on judicial politics","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"November 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Rorie Solberg, an associate professor in OSU's School of Public Policy, worked with colleagues Jennifer Segal Diascro and Eric Waltenburg to develop a freely available resource that introduces students to the political science research process. Solberg recently discussed the development process, how students are using it and more.","rel":"","context":"In "All Stories"","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A photo of the facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building. 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OER Commons\u00a0is a freely accessible, online library that invites educators and students at Oregon State and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Stories"","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A person working on a laptop with a geographic map on the screen, alongside an open textbook titled \"Getting Organized.\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2730,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/open-education-week-oer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1664,"position":3},"title":"Oregon State faculty\u2019s use of free textbooks generates millions in student savings","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"March 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Editor's note: This story was originally published on the Oregon State University Division of Educational Ventures news site. Tuition costs are beyond the control of Oregon State University faculty members, but there is a proven way they can make student learning more affordable: by replacing expensive textbooks with free and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Stories"","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A person working on a laptop with a geographic map on the screen, alongside an open textbook titled \"Getting Organized.\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/open-access-textbook.jpg?fit=800%2C470&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2783,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/oer-champion-awards\/","url_meta":{"origin":1664,"position":4},"title":"Free, open textbooks lead to 5 Oregon State faculty members winning OER Champion Awards","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"May 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Five Oregon State University faculty members were honored earlier this month for their \u201coutstanding\u201d efforts to make higher education more affordable for students. 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