The average college student in 2021-2022 spent between $628 and $1,471 annually on textbooks and supplies. In this new report by Megan Crossfield, Manager, Academic Initiatives and Special Projects; and Diane Ryan, Vice President, Academic Affairs, Yavapai College, the authors adocate for greater acceptance and understanding of Open Education Resources (OER).
The report, from the The NISOD Papers, is titled, Improving Student Success Through the Use of Open Educational Resources. OER are alternatives to commercial textbooks that can lead to an increase in student cost savings, access, and quality of instruction. OER are openly licensed teaching materials that are freely available for an instructor, student, or self-learner.
The report draws conclusions from a two-year quality initiative study in Fall 2020 through Spring 2022 at Yavapai College (YC). The study aimed to:
- Increase access to course learning materials.
- Increase student cost savings.
- Increase student course retention, completion, and persistence rates.
- Determine if students enrolled in two or more OER courses in one semester are retained the next semester with more credits than students in non-OER courses.
- Determine students’ perceptions about participating in an OER course.
- Determine faculty perceptions about teaching an OER course
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