Date of Graduation

12-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Adult and Lifelong Learning (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders

Advisor/Mentor

Kit Kacirek

Committee Member

Kenda S. Grover

Second Committee Member

Julie D. Dainty

Keywords

career and technical education, curriculum development, OER, OER repositories, open educational resources

Abstract

High quality Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers are necessary in order to prepare students to fill the gap in the nation’s technical workforce. Technical skills taught by high school CTE teachers assist students as they continue their education in post-secondary technical schools. Post-secondary CTE teachers assist students in their preparation for future high-wage, high-demand technical careers. One of the many challenges reported by CTE teachers is the time-consuming development of relevant curriculum. The open education resource (OER) movement has been reported in research to alleviate some of these challenges for teachers, but research is lacking in the area of OER for CTE teachers. This exploratory study will increase the body of knowledge and guide decisions regarding sustainability of OER repositories.

This multi-case study was designed to explore the question, “Why do CTE teachers contribute their intellectual capital to OER repositories?” Six cases were chosen for face-to-face interviews using a maximum variation strategy to gain an in-depth understanding of the influential factors contributing to their desire to contribute to OER repositories. There were four major findings of this study: 1) All cases expressed an understanding of the significance of contributing to OER as a result of a previous experience as a CTE teacher; 2) Most cases expressed the importance of a stipend as an influential factor in their willingness to contribute to OER; 3) All cases indicated time as an influential factor to be weighed when committing to contributing their materials to OER; and 4) All cases reported a previous tie with the entity as an important factor in their decision to contribute to an OER repository. The findings of this study can be used to make evidence-based decisions regarding future growth and maintenance of curriculum within OER repositories. The quality and availability of CTE curriculum can help alleviate challenges of CTE teachers who are important to the preparation of the nation’s future technical workforce.

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