Course Number
NURS 6360 Biostatistics in Nursing
Open Textbook/OER
Approximate Student Savings per Semester
$500
What has the impact of the change been (for students and you/the teaching team)?
We are in the middle of the course now but the feedback by the students has been extremely positive and I am encouraged that this is a process that I will build on as I present biostatistics and in the future courses in epidemiology.
What would you say to other faculty members who are considering switching to OER?
I feel that there are many courses that could use this approach and writing an OER textbook is a great way to kick start writing that textbook you often contemplated writing but never got around to finishing. I find that despite the amount of work I have invested in this process to date, there continues to be a lot more I can learn with regard to other applications for this process.
Why did you want to switch to an open textbook/OER?
The reason I switched to an OER textbook was that it enabled me to present the essential background to the students that I feel they need to establish a solid understanding of biostatistics in health applications and especially in Health research. The open textbook also enabled me to create a truly webbed workbook in which I am able to embed my webulators directly into the textbook. Webulators are web-based calculators written in javascript and hosted on my server. They enable the reader to walk through the calculations as they are learning the statistical application.