Are E-Texts the Future of Distance Education? Investigating Online Students’ Open Resource Preferences
At a private university, a correlational survey design was implemented to assess students’ perceptions towards Open Educational Resources (OER) before experiencing an open course design initiative and to subsequently provide stakeholder feedback for guiding pedagogical decisions. The Student Textbook Survey was employed to determine if interest in electronic texts could predict with statistical significance student preference for OER. While the regression analysis indicated that interest in electronic texts had a significant effect on student preference for OER, p < .001, OR = .17, descriptive analysis identified the need for a variety of course material format alternatives.
