Characteristics of Quality OER Textbook Curators: An Analysis of Tullahoma City Schools' Flexbook Curators

• Main Author: Hodge, Zach
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest LLC 2017
• Subjects: Educational Technology; Electronic Publishing; Interviews; Mixed Methods Research; Personality Measures; Personality Traits; Research Projects; Resource Units; Scores; Shared Resources and Services; Technology Uses in Education; Textbook Evaluation; Textbooks; Tennessee
• ISBN: 0355292718; 9780355292718

Tullahoma City Schools, a rural district in Middle Tennessee, recently switched from traditional static textbooks to an online, open educational resource platform. As a result of this change the role of curator, a teacher who creates the Flexbook by compiling and organizing content, was created. This research project sought to add to the limited existing research regarding OER/online textbook programs and become some of the first research examining the curator role. The research sought to identify the characteristics of quality curators by utilizing a mixed methods approach with two cycles of data collection. The first cycle examined a curator's Achieve OER score (quality of the Flexbook, evaluated by current users) in relation to their scores on the Big Five Inventory (a personality assessment) and the TEAM Evaluation scores (a state mandated teacher evaluation). After statistical analysis of these data, curators were divided into three levels of quality and participants were randomly selected for interviews from each of these levels. These data revealed that personality traits that fall under the Big Five dimensions of Conscientiousness and Extroversion had a consistent statistical relationship with a curator's Achieve score. Additionally, the data revealed indicators under the domains of Instruction and Environment had a statistically significant positive relationship with certain Achieve rubrics. Interviews with curators revealed an emphasis on organization and hard work, as well as a utilization of teaching experience and past professional development opportunities as key to creating a high quality Flexbook. Based on this study, researchers were able to recommend an ideal candidate for the role of Flexbook curator as an individual who has a high score of Conscientiousness and low score of Extroversion on the Big Five Inventory, has high TEAM evaluation scores in Instruction and Environment, has teaching experience in the same subject with a higher education, and a long history of successful professional development. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]