Open Educational Resources in Teacher Preparation Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine whether the use of open educational resources (OER) in teacher preparation programs impacts the perception of the resource. P-12 schools are beginning to adopt OER; however, many teachers are unfamiliar with OER, which may slow diffusion throughout the institution. In this study, two groups of teacher candidates from two universities completed surveys evaluating their perceptions of OER. The first group used an open textbook in their course. The second group had no experience using OER. Results indicate that teacher candidates who used the open textbook perceived OER more positively and were more likely to want to use OER in their future classrooms. The results suggest that incorporating OER into courses during teacher preparation programs not only better prepares teacher candidates for using the resources after graduation, but also increases progression through the adoption process described in the diffusion of innovation theory.