Abstract
In order for the Open Access (OA) to learning concept to a have wider impact in formal education, it is important that faculty members intent to adopt new educational innovations. However, little is known about which variables influence the intention of faculty members. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to empirically determine: 1) which of the characteristics of the educational innovation significantly influence the intention to adopt educational innovations, 2) which variables influence the readiness of faculty members intention to adopt educational innovations, and 3) how the characteristics of the innovations moderate the relationship between faculty readiness and intention to adopt the innovations. Participants of this study include 335 faculty members in ABET certified computer science and electrical engineering programs in the United States. The results show that ease of use is positively related to the intention of faculty members to adopt an educational innovation. We conclude that Open-CourseWare developers need to ensure that ease of use is emphasized in the CourseWare and they need to propagate these initially in institutions where faculty members have positive attitude to the CourseWare and care about student learning. In addition, a new method of identifying, building, and funding “open access grant” universities that develop easy-to-use educational innovations, make them available on an open access platform, and spread them widely by embedding agents in community colleges, schools, and other educational institutions is essential. Such an initiative may lead to wider adoption of MOOCS and other open access materials.
Highlights
The United Nations University (UNU) is an early proponent of open access to knowledge and identifies several challenges in developing the UNU OpenCourseWare portal (Barrett et al, 2009)
This study used a survey methodology to obtain the insights of electrical engineering and computer science faculty members at ABET certified programs in the United States
The responses from the faculty members included the use of many educational innovations that could be available as Open Access CourseWare and available to a worldwide audience
Summary
The United Nations University (UNU) is an early proponent of open access to knowledge and identifies several challenges in developing the UNU OpenCourseWare portal (Barrett et al, 2009). Most of the innovations do not seem to be widely used in United States classrooms (Schwab & Sala-i-Martin, 2013). This may, in part, be due to the current reward systems that are in place for faculty members that values research over teaching (Walczyk, Ramsey, & Zha, 2007). Traditional lectures with PowerPoint slides are still used in the majority of STEM classrooms in the United States (Macdonald, Manduca, Mogk, & Tewksbury, 2005; Singer, Nielsen, & Schweingruber, 2012; Walczyk, Ramsey, & Zha, 2007)
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