Beginning at the End: Backward Design and OERs

This presentation will focus on exploring the relationship between open educational resources and course design. Many college instructors are familiar with the experience of assigning readings from the course textbook to discover that the majority of students do not complete them (even fewer if there is no assignment associated with them). Why is that? In my experience, there are several different reasons, but in this presentation, I will focus on what I see as the primary reason that underlies them all: students often do not see the value in reading from their textbooks. By reframing the way that the textbook is used--as a tool to achieve specific learning outcomes--I will explain how instructors can use carefully curated OERs to achieve their course goals.