What Drives the OER Movement?

Two of us from the Distance & Regional Ed team attended the OER Summit at Diablo Valley College in 2019, and what we learned about the impact of textbook costs on enrollment was sobering –

A Spring 2018 survey of 1,122 students at Los Medanos College showed that 52.5% of students avoided carrying a full load because of the cost of books and 59.6% of students could not afford all their books within the first 3 weeks of class. Source: LMC Open Education Resource

In a Spring 2016 survey of students at College of the Canyons, 70% of students said the cost of textbooks influenced their enrollment; 57% did not buy the required textbook; and 87% were concerned about their grades. Source: OER Student Survey Spring 2016  Report #303, College of the Canyons

A 2014 survey of 2,039 students at 156 campuses across 33 states revealed 1/2 took fewer or different classes; 2/3 chose not to buy textbook; and 9.5/10 were concerned about grades. Source: Fixing the Broken Textbook Market

 “I couldn’t go last semester because … I couldn’t find any money to borrow. I missed an entire semester.”

“I took a lot of time off school JUST BECAUSE I couldn’t afford the textbooks, even after I became a student purchasing the textbook was THE HARDEST PART.”

–Reedley College Students

For many disciplines, there is a better way. OERs are freely available learning materials that can be copied, edited, and shared to better serve all students by allowing immediate access, customized to a specific class, at no cost.  Some colleges are even implementing Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree and certificate programs that rely solely on these alternative instructional materials.

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