Open educational resources offer benefits to both students and instructors

This summer many students will be keen to find employment in part to learn and put existing skills to work, but also to cover the rising cost of education. Faculty members may look to the summer as a time to further their research or perhaps take a much needed holiday. However, there is one important action that instructors can do to help address post-secondary affordability — consider the cost of learning materials in their upcoming courses and how open educational resources might help not only address student concerns around affordability but also enhance pedagogy. 

Learning materials, specifically textbooks, are a central part of the learning experience.  However, changes in the textbook market and excessive price increases are creating barriers to post-secondary affordability. It's an issue of increasing concern for students.

Open educational resources or OER are high-quality, reusable teaching and learning materials that are made freely available. OER can take a wide variety of forms from videos to 3D printed objects, but one of the most common formats is textbooks. These materials, which are normally created by academics and in many cases peer reviewed, can often supplement or even replace traditional textbooks. But why spend part of your summer looking for an OER to replace a textbook?

The benefits of OER are numerous. From the student perspective, OER are freely available, ensuring that everyone can access course learning materials. Research has shown that students will forgo purchasing required learning materials because of cost. A 2017 study out of British Columbia surveyed 320 students and found that more than half had avoided purchasing a textbook in the past year. The University of Alberta’s Student Union notes that roughly one in seven students has selected courses based purely on textbook costs. Unsurprisingly, not purchasing required learning materials is associated with poorer academic performance.

OER are not lower quality resources. A rich empirical literature demonstrates use of OER is not associated with lower learning outcomes for students. Instructors using OER have also found pedagogical benefits such as being able to more easily customize materials and content. OER have been found to both inspire instructors and be a source of new teaching methods.

Concerned about the amount of time it might take to go looking for new resources? The library is a great starting point with a detailed guide on OER, as well as librarians who can help you find relevant materials for your courses. If you want to do a bit of looking on your own, BCcampus, the provincially funded open education in BC (which has saved students millions of dollars), has a library of over 350 textbooks, while the University of Minnesota’s Open Textbook Library has more than 1,200 textbooks. 

Because of the permissions granted by OER, you don’t have to just adopt materials, you can adapt or customize them to your liking. If you are particularly keen, you can even create your own resources. Open Education Alberta provides access to the Pressbooks publishing platform, which can be used to create open textbooks. You don’t have to go it alone. There is a whole community of OER advocates across the province, country and in each discipline. Students from campuses all over Alberta have been trying to raise awareness about the issue, and the AB Textbook Broke site has resources about more of the benefits of OER. So perhaps it is worth spending some time this summer thinking about refreshing course materials in a way that can ensure everyone gets access. Your students will appreciate you (and OER have been found to result in higher teacher evaluations too).

Dr. Michael McNally is an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Studies.