Analysis of HBCU Faculty Awareness and Perceptions Regarding Open Educational Resources (OER) for Teaching Enhancement

This research investigated the awareness of HBCU faculty members from a selected population of HBCUs across the nation, compared to the national average, and analyzed their perceptions of OER for teaching enhancement. The framework used for this study was the COUP Framework that was created by the Open Education Group to study, evaluate and analyze the impact of OER within the four major areas of influence: Cost, Outcomes, Usage, and Perceptions. Secondarily, the Diffusion of Innovations Theory assisted in framing the context of how OER, as an innovation, is introduced within the social system of an organization. This study used the canonical Correlation Analysis to determine the strength of the relationship between the variables, and to determine which variable offers the most statistically significant relationship for OER implementation. This retrospective data analysis was conducted from the surveys collected during the Alternative Learning Solutions (AL$) Pilot Project of OER implementation among a select group of nine institutions, including six HBCUs. The 45 responses included HBCU faculty members from four private and two public HBCUs representing the states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee