Premium
Online and campus students have positive perceptions of an open educational resource, the Kansas State University Human Nutrition (HN 400) Flexbook
Author(s) -
Lindshield Brian,
Adhikari Koushik
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1064.6
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , perception , resource (disambiguation) , open educational resources , medical education , distance education , online learning , computer science , multimedia , world wide web , psychology , mathematics education , medicine , mathematics , computer network , neuroscience , statistics
A flexbook is an open educational resource (OER), which is a free, openly licensed resource that can be adapted, adopted, and used by others. The flexbook was created in Google Docs as a textbook replacement for an intermediate level nutrition course. It can be shared to Google Docs accounts, accessed through a web link (goo.gl/vOAnR), and/or downloaded as a PDF from the course's learning management system. Further, the PDF can be printed or used to purchase a hard copy. Online and campus students’ perceptions and use of the flexbook from multiple online and campus semesters were collected through an anonymous online survey. Online students used the flexbook more frequently, liked the idea of the flexbook, its appearance, and flexibility more, and rated it of higher quality than campus students. Online students also liked and used the animations, videos, and web links more than campus students. A majority of the students used multiple electronic flexbook formats instead of hard copies. The PDF format followed by the Google Docs version, were the most commonly used primary formats by both online and campus students. Overall, students appreciated that the flexbook was free to use and had positive perceptions of it. Unlike many previous etextbook surveys and publications, students reported primarily using electronic flexbook formats of it. This may be because students have free access to multiple electronic formats.