An Open Letter to U of A Students: Razorbacks for OER!

Image Source: Pixaby.  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. These course materials can replace traditional textbooks in your courses.  They are cost-free and student-focused.  They allow professors to assign content appropriate materials and shape reading and homework assignments to suit the courses they teach.  Professors can create their own course material and share them with the U of A campus and even the whole world.  Or, they can adopt already created, high-quality cost-free resources for use in their classes.  These materials help students save money on textbooks and often provide an enhanced learning experience.  Many of these resources are available in a variety of formats including online as web pages, PDFs, and other digital formats that can be accessed from computers, tablets, or phones.  Printed and bound versions of many of the textbooks are also sometimes available at a fraction of the cost of traditional textbooks. 

Students can help with the OER movement!  How? Educate yourself about open education.  Educate your RSO, fraternity, sorority, friends, and classmates.  Support and attend Open Education events on campus including Open Access and Open Education Week activities.  Student organizations can petition the administration, the state legislature to encourage the adoption of OER in the University and appeal to the faculty to consider the adoption of OER in appropriate courses.  

Want to learn more?  Watch this video.  See what students who have used OER say in this video. See our Open Education Guide.  Examine an open textbook for yourself. 

Want to help?  

 Contact the OER Team at OER@uark.edu.