Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Everything!
There are an overwhelming amount of open textbooks and other OER available for professors to use as-is or remix to fit the needs of their specific course. Happily, the University of Minnesota has created the Open Textbook Library, a searchable collection that include extensive reviews that help faculty determine which is the best book for their class. Want to help? Contact UMN to become a reviewer yourself.
Open Educational Resources (OER) is a general term for learning resources that are free and web based. OER can be textbooks, online classes, or supplementary materials such as videos and websites. Teachers are encouraged to edit OER they find to fit the needs and focus of their course.
Why should you learn more about OER? Because if you supplement or replace your costly textbook with free OER you can save your students money. Using OER may also increase the chances that your students will acquire your course materials; the National Survey of Student Engagement reported in 2012 that 27% of first-year students and 34% of seniors “frequently did not purchase required academic materials due to their cost.”
