Approaching a New Normal? educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2024

The Executive Summary: 

This is the 13th report in a series of surveys tracking curricula discovery, selection, and adoption processes in U.S. higher education. The surveys have tracked the growth of digital materials and OER in higher education classrooms since 2009, providing trends on adoption and sentiments. The results also covered the abrupt transitions to remote teaching and return to in-person instruction during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey responses for this analysis were collected in April 2024, from a total of 3,447 faculty. The respondents come from all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands.

The key takeaways from this year’s survey are:

• Fully face-to-face courses remained the most common modality in 2024, with three-quarters of faculty teaching at least one such course. That said, it remains below pre-pandemic levels. A smaller portion of faculty (40%) taught at least one course that was fully online.
• Digital options for required textbooks continue to grow. The majority of faculty (78%) have a required textbook for students for their largest enrolled course, and almost all required textbooks (92%) are offered in a digital format. Just 8% of courses only offered a print textbook, down from 12% last year.
• Faculty opinions on print versus digital materials remain conflicted and stable. The majority of faculty (79%) agree digital materials offer students greater flexibility, but a large number of faculty (41%) also agree that print materials are better for student learning. These rates are almost identical to 2022-23 results.
• Faculty awareness for licensing varies by the type of license. Faculty have the highest level of awareness for copyright (96% aware at any level), followed by public domain (90%), and finally Creative Commons (76%), all representing drops in awareness over 2022-23.
• In 2023-24, more than half of faculty (56%) were aware of OER at any level. However, OER awareness dropped 8% compared to 2022-23, to a level seen two years ago, in 2021-22. For the most part, differences were seen evenly across faculty characteristics like teaching modality, discipline, and institution type.
• There was a 3% decline in the rate of use of OER as required materials for 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, paralleling the decrease in OER awareness. Overall, 26% of all faculty reporting that they use OER as a required material in their courses.

Seaman, J.E and Seaman, J (2024). Approaching a New Normal? Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2024. Bay View Analytics.  https://www.bayviewanalytics.com/reports/oer_2024_new_normal.pdf (retrieved 9/6/2024).

Development and implementation of digital pedagogical support systems in the context of educational equity

 Because of COVID-19, using digital tools in education has become really important, especially in higher-level engineering classes. However, it has been hard to make sure that all students get a fair and equal education when taking online practical courses. To solve this problem, a digital teaching assistant system was created. This system helps teachers and students interact better and makes it easier to show what students have learned. It also has smart features to evaluate how well students are doing in their courses, using a special method that combines different criteria.

The study found that students using this system did better academically than those using other systems. Both teachers and students liked how the system improved communication and provided detailed reports on learning. The system was also better at ensuring fairness in recommending resources, encouraging interaction, and evaluating student achievements. Overall, it helps teachers in higher engineering subjects to improve their teaching plans and support students in learning practical skills, making education more fair for everyone.

blognote: This is fun to read, just because it is so dense.  The above synopsis was derived by copying the abstract into ChatGPT, and tweaking some of the language.

blognote2: the authors created an added value to a CMS that helped with assessment and then noted that good instructional design is needed.  Still a fun read just as a challenge.

Liu, Sf., Li, J., Zhang, Hq. et al. Development and implementation of digital pedagogical support systems in the context of educational equity. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11, 1084 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03616-y