{"id":48727,"date":"2021-09-24T20:29:59","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T20:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/academics.otc.edu\/library\/?page_id=48727"},"modified":"2022-08-09T21:26:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T21:26:58","slug":"oer-for-students","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/academics.otc.edu\/library\/oer-for-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Educational Resources for Students (OER)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text font_size=”18″ text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1632154477314{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}” color=”#000000″]Have you ever wondered why textbooks cost so much?[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]In the past twenty years, textbook prices have reached an all-time high market price, even preventing some students from being able to afford their course books. According to the video OER Basics, textbooks go up in about price 6% every year<\/a>. For this reason, students will sometimes avoid buying their textbooks and in order to pay for food, housing and other essential resources.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”48732″ alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text font_size=”18″ text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1630682733879{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}” color=”#000000″]What are Open Educational Resources (OER) and how can they help students?[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1630601727155{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”48731″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1632516060565{margin-bottom: 18px !important;}”]Open Educational Resources (OER) are open licensed course materials that are completely free to students, as well as reusable, revisable, remixable, redistributable, and retainable for teachers. OER materials are made free to students by the authors, who choose to license their work so that it is affordable to students. OER can be an amazing resource for any student that is struggling due to the high costs of textbooks, and students can be great advocates to their instructors and their school to start using OER![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text font_size=”18″ text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1631030662614{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}” color=”#000000″]Why is it important to know about Open Educational Resources (OER)?[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_column_text]As we can observe in the graph, the cost of college textbooks has risen faster than the overall Consumer Price Index. Textbook costs are one of the reasons that college students end up in debt.\u00a0 Open Educational Resources (OER) are a great option to avoid spending thousands of dollars on textbooks, especially\u00a0 because students are often buying them in addition to the financially draining costs of utilities and living necessities.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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The cost of textbooks has risen at almost 4 times the cost of other consumer goods. Source: US GAO, https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/usgao\/9547598441<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text font_size=”18″ text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1632153102499{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}” color=”#000000″]How do textbook costs affect student’s lives?[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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A large amount of students have confessed on avoiding purchasing or borrowing their class textbooks. Source: U.S. PIRG, https:\/\/uspirg.org\/feature\/usp\/fixing-broken-textbook-market<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_empty_space height=”45px”][vc_column_text]Many students avoid buying textbooks in order to use that money for other living necessities. As we can observe in the image, we can tell that this is issue is very common and that it has impacted more than 50% of of the college students surveyed.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_separator][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Some students skip buying an access code to see the online textbook for their class due to the high price. This is a big problem , since homework assignments are often only available to students through the access code required for the class.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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Some students say they avoid buying the access code for their textbooks. Source: U.S. PIRG,\u00a0 https:\/\/uspirg.org\/feature\/usp\/fixing-broken-textbook-market<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_separator][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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Some students select courses based on the cost of the textbook. Source: U.S. PIRG, https:\/\/uspirg.org\/feature\/usp\/fixing-broken-textbook-market<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Many students are on a budget and can barely afford their daily necessities, for this reason they have to decide what courses to take based on which have the most affordable materials. Otherwise, they may have to sacrifice many things such as meals or basic necessities just to pay for the course materials needed to pass their class.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text font_size=”18″ text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1632152840787{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}” color=”#000000″]Open Educational Resources (OER) available to students:[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1632515325371{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}”]All of the textbooks included in each of these links are carefully reviewed by several faculty instructors to ensure the quality of information and it’s suitability for college level courses.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1632515394916{margin-bottom: 15px !important;}”]<\/p>\n