HOW CAN CK-12 (AN OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE, OER) ENHANCE THE ATTITUDE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CLASS VII STUDENTS IN SCIENCE?

Abstract

Open Educational Resources (OER) has come to the limelight with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and enables the learning process to be individualized and self-paced. Studying the attitude of the students towards the use of OER like CK-12 and its impact on the academic performance of the students is imperative to enhance its effectiveness. However, there is limited research done to explore the status of attitude about OER and its impact on the learning process. This study attempts to study CK-12 (an Open Educational Resource, OER) towards enhancing the attitude and academic performance of class VII students in science. It is quantitative descriptive research using a survey and quasi-experimental method (switching replication method). The pretest and post-test data on attitude were collected from 57 students of grade VII using an attitude questionnaire before and after the two-month intervention period. During the intervention period, academic performance tests of various concepts were administered. 

Findings from the research report that though there was no significant difference in the overall attitude of students between the pretest and posttest, there did exist a significant difference in the academic performance of students taught using CK-12 class and regular class. This indicates that though students enjoyed and performed academically well in the self-paced OER modules, it implies that they were aware that teacher-led instruction carried higher importance. Thus, teachers can never be replaced by online self-paced materials. Instead, the two should be complementary and coexist for effective learning.