Alternatives to expensive textbooks aid many students this semester
Citrus College faculty members helped their students save an estimated $307,524 this fall by using open educational resources/zero textbook cost options (OER/ZTC) in their classrooms. This number will only increase in the months ahead as these alternatives to traditional textbooks are used in more courses.
The California Education Code defines OER/ZTC as "high-quality teaching, learning and research resources" that reside in the public domain, have been released under intellectual property licenses that permit free use and may include other resources that are legally available and free of cost to students. These can include, but are not limited to, "full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, faculty-created content, streaming videos, tests, software and any other tools, materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge."
This fall, 54 Citrus College instructors used OER/ZTC in 136 sections of 21 different courses. As a result, 3,138 students were positively impacted.
"There are a lot of reasons why OER are beneficial to students," said Sarah Bosler, public services librarian and OER liaison for the Academic Senate. "Not all students can afford their textbooks. Many need to wait for financial aid to purchase from the bookstore, which can delay when they get their books. All of these things create added stress for students who could be ready for day one of class if they had an OER available online."
According to Bosler, other benefits of OER/ZTC include relevant and current content, the opportunity for faculty to control the content, increased enrollment, improved accessibility, improved student success and increased equity.
"I invite any instructor interested in transitioning a course to OER to contact me," Bosler said. "I can help them find and compile the resources they need for their course. They can also identify, remix or even create OER on their own."
For more information, visit libguides.citruscollege.edu/oer or email Bosler at sbosler@citruscollege.edu.
This article originally appeared in the December 2022 edition of the Citrus View.