At IVC, expensive textbook costs are at the very top of challenges students say they face. It's not uncommon for publisher textbooks to run hundreds of dollars each, forcing
students to make difficult decisions about whether, where, and how to afford these
instructional materials. Even if students do buy expensive publisher textbooks, they
may not have them until several weeks into the semester.
There is a better way!
Open Educational Resources (OER) are high-quality educational materials available for free, online. They're not only accessible and available to students immediately, they
can be customized to truly fit the specific goals of the instructor and course.
OERs are openly licensed and defined by the Five Rs:
- Retain: the right to make and own copies of the content (e.g., download )
-
Reuse: the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class , on a website )
-
Revise: the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate )
- Remix: the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create
something new (e.g. textbook )
- Redistribute: the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes
with others
They offer the advantages of being:
-
Customizable, so that faculty can teach exactly what they want to teach and how they want to teach
it. When faculty have creative control over their learning materials they can tailor
those material to their specific student populations, increasing engagement and student
buy-in.
-
Affordable and immediately accessible, saving students money and making it possible for everyone to have their own copy
of required course materials from the first day of class. No more waiting for delayed
orders to arrive at the campus bookstore!
-
Equity-building and success-promoting, providing a product as good or better than commercial textbooks, as several studies have shown
To learn more about how you can find and use OER, and ideally bring your course to
ZTC, explore the resources provided here. For questions and support, please reach
out to IVC's OER Coordinator, Cerise Myers, at 760.355.6286 or at OER@imperial.edu.
