OER5 CHALLENGES/5 STRENGTHS

Benefits 5 REASONS TO USE OER

Cost savings for students

We can't overstate the benefit of reducing textbook costs, which disproportionately affect low-income students. In 2016, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) published a report, Covering the Cost, which claims that 50% of community college students use financial aid to buy text books.

Retention

Students leave college for a variety of reasons, but the Pew Research Center’s 2011 Report, Is College Worth It? presents two important conclusions: The primary reason students leave higher education is cost (the second

is lack of preparedness) Students who complete college earn, on average, more than $20,000

per year than those who don’t Eliminating the cost of textbooks could help retain the most vulnerable

students, who also stand to gain the most benefit from college

Better use of financial aid

PIRG suggests that college students use $3.15 billion (yes billion) per year on textbooks. That money could be better spent on tuition and other aspects of education

Competition

This is a personal opinion (highly subjective!): the textbook industry increases costs out of proportion to inflation, new material, value added, etc. Moving to high-quality OER might result in the lower-cost textbooks, even from publishers, as they are required to be competitive

Collaboration

Providing high-quality OER means sharing materials, volunteering for peer-review, discussing pedagogical practices, and generally moving out of “silos” to work with other faculty and experts in a discipline

Challenges 5 STUMBLING BLOCKS

Perceptions

Many people think that OER is free, and therefore not of the same quality as textbooksOER is not free: it requires investments by institutions, faculty, content providers, etc.

Textbooks are easier

Developing, finding and/or implementing OER is time consumingBecoming knowledgeable about licensing, accessibility, venues and vendors also involves timeMost colleges and universities contract with bookstores or vendors who simply say “here’s a slip to fill out for your textbooks”There is no marketing for OER; we don’t get catalogs or visits from OER salespeople

Lack of Institutional Support

Librarians and instructional designers cannot be tasked with persuading faculty to use OEROER projects need to be supported by administrationInstitutions should provide stipends and release time for OER development, as well as resources and initiatives

Profits

It’s not just textbook companies that profit from high-priced textbooks: faculty often author them, and they are “cash cows” after the initial investment of time and expertise

Keeping materials current

Textbook publishers make it easier to update sections of materials; there are editors, reviewers, marketers, etc. OER requires the same amount of work, without the supporting staff and structure