With tuition and living costs on the rise, obtaining a post-secondary education can be extremely costly. One of the higher costs of education are textbook fees; a first year life sciences student can expect to pay $825.15 in new textbooks.
To reduce the overall cost and increase the accessibility of post-secondary education, open educational resources were created.
OERs are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. They can be freely used, shared or adapted by anyone.
There are many benefits of open education. For students, the use of OERs can alleviate the stresses associated with exorbitant textbook costs.
In addition to cost-saving benefits, there are correlations between the use of OERs and higher grades, and the use of OERS and lower course withdrawal rates. Even more, accessible OERs can remove barriers for students with print disabilities.
The use of OERs also avoids the problems characteristic of traditional textbooks. Problems such as bundled content, use of access codes that control and limit access to material and the assignment of “updated” textbook editions made for the sole purpose of profit generation are resolved by the use of OERs.
With all the benefits, it begs the question why hasn’t McMaster University done more to push for OERs?
Recently, McMaster professor Catherine Anderson created the first open-access linguistics textbook with support from the university and a $15,000 grant from eCampusOntario’s open textbook initiative. While this is a great accomplishment, Anderson’s textbook is not enough to create open education on campus.
The McMaster Students Union has advocated for OERs in the past. Last year, they ran the #TextbookBroke campaign with the support of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. This campaign aimed to encourage instructors to adopt OERs in efforts to address textbook affordability.
The 2018 McMaster University budget submission form also recommends that the university invest $50,000 to support professors in adopting or creating OERs that are specific to McMaster courses.
The document contains many suggestions for the university, moved forward by the MSU. However, in light of the recent changes to post-secondary education funding made by the Ford government, it is unclear if any of the MSU’s recommendations, let alone a $50,000 fund for OERs, will materialize.
But beyond advocacy efforts by the MSU, the university has yet to provide legitimate support for open education. According to Olga Perkovic, co-chair of the McMaster OER committee, the committee’s workings are not supported financially or with policy.
This is in contrast with Queen’s University, who are at the forefront of open education in Ontario. The OER committee at Queen’s is a top-down movement, that is, their provost specifically made open education a priority, which involved providing financial and infrastructural support.
According to the MSU budget submission, other Canadian universities including the University of Alberta, Simon Fraser University and the University of Calgary have thousands of dollars in funding allocated for OERs.
McMaster ought to follow suit and prioritize open education for its students. To do so would mean to commit dedicated funds alongside time and efforts to ensure faculty members have the capacity to implement OERs in the classroom.
In the meantime, instructors can help support the open movement by using open materials in their courses whenever it is possible. There are many available collections of OERs for instructors to use. For example, the non-profit organization eCampusOntario hosts a provincially-funded open textbook library that carries hundreds of textbooks and other educational resources from a variety of disciplines.
Students can also support the open movement through discussing implementation of OERs with their instructors, uploading and encouraging their peers to upload their research onto McMaster’s institutional repository MacSphere and contacting the committee to recommend a president to ensure open education is a priority of the incoming president.
To stay up to date on the happenings of McMaster’s OER committee, the group’s meeting minutes are publicly available through McMaster LibGuides.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
On Jan. 25, The Silhouette sat down with Ontario New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath to discuss the Ford government’s recently announced changes to Ontario’s tuition framework, financial aid system and student fees.
On Jan. 17, the Ford government announced a 10 per cent reduction in the up front cost of tuition in Ontario. This came alongside a plan to tighten the eligibility requirements for the Ontario student assistance program, reduce grant money offered by OSAP and eliminate the six month grace period before loans must be paid back.
Additionally, the ministry announced that post secondary institutions will be required to allow students to opt out of paying non-tuition fees deemed “non-essential.”
According to Horwath, the 10 per cent tuition cost reduction will end up harming students.
“This decision that the government's made is deceitful first and foremost because the 10 per cent sticker price announcement really means nothing for affordability for students,” she stated.
Horwath said the proposed changes would cause students to graduate with more debt and pay higher interest fees.
The McMaster Students Union has expressed similar concerns.
“Grants are a far more effective form of student financial aid than loans. Rolling back OSAP eligibility and increasing the loan threshold will increase the debt load on many students,” said Ikram Farah, MSU president.
According to Horwath, the requirement of an opt-out for non-essential student union fees is a strategy to silence the voices of students.
“I think a lot of what the government is trying to do is weaken the student movement to silence the voices of young people,” she said.
The MSU released a statement saying that this provision might impact the advocacy abilities of student unions and provision of services and supports.
“The potential of optional fee structures for services could severely undermine the ability of students to organize and maintain robust student-oriented provisions, along with their representation to all levels of government,” stated the release.
According to Horwath, the proposed changes to tuition, fees and OSAP will impact more than just students because all Ontarians benefit from well-functioning post secondary institutions.
“It is going to affect everyone,” she stated. “It is going to affect families. It is going to affect the economy. It is going to affect the educators.”
She explained that weakening the student experience on campus, lowering the quality of education and burdening students with more financial distress mean that young people will not get the education that they need in order to participate in the workforce.
The Progressive Conservative party holds a 60 per cent majority, meaning that they have enough seats to pass legislation without the assent of other parties.
Despite this, Horwath believes it is still possible to advocate for change.
She noted that as a result of public outcry, the Ford government recently backtracked on a proposal open up the Greenbelt to developers.
According to Horwath, this demonstrates that broad resistance from Ontarians is key.
“I think this is a glimmer of hope to say that notwithstanding that it is a majority government, if you have a broad enough resistance and if you push hard enough […] then you have an opportunity to engage.”
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
Two McMaster researchers have been honoured with the Movember Discovery Grant which will provide each researcher with $200,000 over a two-year term. The grant, which Prostate Cancer Canada awarded to 26 researchers this year, will go towards two projects.
The first will fund research on cancer-induced depression by Gurmit Singh, professor in pathology and molecular medicine. Another has been awarded to Khalid Al-Nedawi, assistant professor of medicine, for a study investigating hormone therapy resistance.
Singh’s research on how prostate cancer can cause depression uses an animal model, the first of its kind in Canada. The study will eventually move to clinical trials once the mechanism that causes depression in those patients is understood through animal research.
The end goal of the research is to alleviate depression in cancer patients, which Singh believes is caused not by psycho-social factors, but by biological ones.
“We decided to look at the quality of life of prostate cancer patients. Normally what happens is over time a lot of prostate cancer patients get depressed,” said Singh.
The research team discovered that many tumour cells produce a neurotransmitter called glutamate when they are under oxidative stress. In other studies, glutamate has been linked to depression, and is now theorized to be a main cause of depression in prostate cancer patients.
“This would be stopping depression at the tumour site rather than in the brain,” said Singh.
Singh began his work in cancer research when he first joined the board of governors for the Canadian Best Cancer Foundation.
“When I joined this board on the day of run for the cure I was with some survivors and they told me that it’s great they they’re living longer, but they are in so much pain that they’d rather die,” said Singh.
After that experience, Singh began studying pain in breast cancer patients with the goal to improve quality of life for those with cancer. This has led to his new project that will provide a higher quality of life for prostate cancer patients by alleviating depression caused by prostate cancer.
The project, which is now underway, is in the early stages.
“We are hoping within two years we will have an animal model for depression,” said Singh. “Once we have that then we will be screening for drugs that block the release of glutamate.”
“At the end of the day, depression is not caused by one factor – it is multi-factorial. If we can control the biology, and the psychologists can control the social aspects, we may have a better quality of life for patients.”
The Ontario Liberals announced on Jan. 20 that they are extending the ‘30 per cent off’ tuition grant eligibility to cover about 5,000 more students.
Co-op students in their final year of a five-year program and students in private postsecondary institutions who qualify for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) are now also eligible for a 30 per cent off rebate on their tuition.
“For co-op students, while their program lasts five years [instead of four], a good part of that is taken up by work experience. When the 30-off tuition program was originally constituted, this was kind of an anomaly that was determined afterwards,” said Brad Duguid, minister of training, colleges and universities.
In spite of the expanded eligibility requirements, provincial student lobbying groups have pointed out perceived shortcomings of the program.
After the announcement, the Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario released a statement saying they do not support the extension of the grant to students in private career colleges and institutions.
“The issue is that the government is funding private institutions rather than prioritizing public postsecondary education and making it more affordable,” said Anna Goldfinch, national executive representative for the CFS-Ontario.
Goldfinch expressed concern over the ministry’s oversight of private career colleges, referencing public scrutiny over the ministry’s enforcement of the Private Career Colleges Act. In 2009, for instance, the Ontario Ombudsman’s office found that the ministry had “inadequate oversight” of Bestech Academy Inc. The owner had falsely advertised the academy as a registered private career college.
The CFS-Ontario maintains that while the expansion of the grant could help 5,000 more students, the funds would be better allocated to institutions’ operating grants toward a 30 per cent reduction of tuition over three years.
Duguid said the Ontario government is committed to providing targeted funding to lower-middle income students in the form of financial assistance.
“We want the funding that we’re providing to lower-middle income students to go directly to those students, rather than the institutions. That’s what’s important about the 30 off grant,” Duguid said.
Spencer Graham, vice-president (education) for the MSU and a member of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance’s steering committee, said he was surprised the government would extend the grant eligibility to students in private career colleges. However, he said OUSA still supports the expansion of the grant.
“OUSA believes increases to base operating budgets is important and that remains a priority for us. That doesn’t mean we’re coming out against the increased Ontario tuition grant eligibility, because it does help students. It’s not necessarily an either-or,” Graham said.
OUSA continues to lobby for expansion of the tuition grant. The grant currently covers students who attend college or university up to four years after they graduate from high school, and those in a five-year co-op program.
“That policy serves as a barrier to a number of students who attend postsecondary education after the four years after high school are up,” Graham said.
“Particularly this speaks to students who have dependents and children. We also see that Aboriginal learners tend to wait a number of years before entering postsecondary education. The grant doesn’t cover those two types of students, who face particular barriers,” he said.
OUSA’s pre-budget submission to the Ontario government also recommends that the grant should offer 35 per cent off tuition, up from 30 per cent.
Currently, eligible students can save $1,730 in tuition on average for degree programs and $790 for diploma or certificate programs. The deadline to apply for the grant for the winter semester is March 1, 2014. According to the Ontario government, 230,000 students received the tuition grant last year. About 310,000 were eligible before the expansion of the program.
This article was originally published on the Canadian University Press's newswire.
