Open Up!

So, you want to find some OER? In today’s post, I’ll be reviewing the Open Textbook Library (OTL) ( http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/ ).  If you are new to OER this repository is a great place to start.    It is currently one of the most well-known and well-developed OER collections available. The OTL is maintained by the Open Textbook Network (OTN) a collective organization of colleges and universities who’ve joined together to support and promote open textbooks.  The organization is led by David Ernst, PhD, Director of the Center for Open Education and the Executive Director of the Open Textbook Network (About Us, https://research.cehd.umn.edu/otn/about-us/ ). According to a 2015 article Ernst was driven to found the network by a desire to make college more affordable for students and to broaden the reach and usefulness of digital media.  He eventually came to the conclusion that expanding awareness, access and use of open textbooks was one way to do this (...

Image Source:  Pixab y .   CCO Creative Commons Dear Razorbacks,  During the Fall 2016 term over 1600 students at the University of Arkansas were enrolled in Sociology 2013 a popular core curriculum elective.  The average textbook price was $141 for a new textbook, $106 for a used or rented textbook.  If open textbooks had been adopted for this high enrollment lower division core course significant cost savings would have been realized by students.  The chart below illustrates this.   Fall 2016 SOCI 2013.  Enrollment- 1678.  Data compiled from U of A class schedules and U of A bookstore.  There is a lot of talk on our campus and campuses around the country about the high cost of college attendance. Reducing the cost of textbooks is one way to lower the cost of attendance.  Open Educational Resources are textbooks and other course materials professors can adopt or create for use in their classrooms. T...

Welcome to Open Up! a blog for faculty about open education with a special focus on open educational resources (OER).  Why do OER matter?  Here are my thoughts on the issue. Three Reasons Why OER Matter 1 Students and their families are struggling under the burden of college costs and resulting debt.  News media headlines lament rapidly rising college tuition and fees at both public and private colleges and universities.  For example, just this summer, USA Today College ran a headline that read “Private college tuition is rising faster than inflation….again” (Bancalari 2017).  Many of these recent news articles retrieve data from a recent College Board report on the rising cost of college for students enrolled in all types of post-secondary institutions (College Board, 2017).  Unsurprisingly, it’s not just tuition and fees that are rising, textbook costs have skyrocketed as well. In 2015, NBC news reported on that textbook costs had risen ove...