Dan McConnell [Champion of Open – Psychology]

Describe your open educational resources and/or practices:

I use OER for three courses: (1) PSY2012 General Psychology, (2) PSY4604 History & Systems of Psychology, and (3) EXP3204 Sensation & Perception. I use the Psychology open textbook through OpenStax for PSY2012, plus curated materials for the other upper division courses.

Describe the impact open educational resources and/or practices has had on your teaching and/or students’ learning: 

I have seen the costs of textbooks rising, and every year I have countless students asking just how “required” the book really is – and I can see that a major driving factor in that question is trying to save money. I’ve dedicated many hours in the last 2 years researching OER options for all Psychology Department courses and, along with colleagues in the department, have curated a “big list” of high quality OER psychology books. Now I know that ALL of my students can obtain the book, and that cost is no longer a barrier.

What is one piece of advice for other faculty interested in OER/P?

OER content is prepared by experts in the field, just like traditional textbooks, so why not use it instead?

Related Resources 

• OpenStax College Psychology: https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology-2e