Hey students! New school year, new textbooks, and some might be free!

Written by Katie Pierce, a member of the #OpenEd21 Communications Committee

Calling all college and university students! School is starting back up. Many campuses are offering in-person classes again and many of us are eager to see each other, really see each other again. With the excitement of moving in, starting classes, and catching up with friends also comes the dreaded textbook shopping. As a student, I spent hours searching for the best deals, weighing the options of going without, or scrambling to borrow a copy from a friend, and textbook prices have only continued to rise. 

The good news is that there is a growing number of open educational resources (OER) that are freely available for people to download, edit, and share. From openly licensed videos to entire textbooks, OER are materials that you can access anytime, anywhere for free.

It is a big ask to add something else on your plate when so much is already in the air, but students are at the heart of open education. Your advocacy for open education is often more powerful than any other group out there. Students can draw attention to the benefits and need for open educational resources. The more students that speak up, the more powerful that message becomes.

Read on for 10 things students can do with OER…

10. Tell your professor about the cool free resource you found!

Talk to your professors. Maybe they don’t know about OER. You can raise the subject with them and advocate for why affordable materials are important for student success. Open Textbook Alliance has a faculty handout to help you get started.  

9. Find practice problems.

Many OER come with practice problems and exercises so you can keep your skills sharp. For example, OpenStax textbooks have exercises at the end of their chapters. Check out their math and business books.

8. Use an OER as a supplemental study guide 

Having trouble in class? Need something explained in a different way? OER are here for you. You can access OER anytime as long as you have an internet connection. Next time you're stuck, see if there’s an OER that can help you better understand. 

7. Learn a new skill for free.

OER aren’t just for your standard math, science, and English classes. Learn to code. Learn to play guitar. Learn a new language. There are OER in virtually every subject. Just visit sites like OER Commons to explore.

6. Share the word - tell your friends.

Spread the word! The BCcampus OER Student Toolkit, suggests social media campaigns to help spread the word about the high cost of textbooks. The $200 book you just bought and will only use this semester, take a picture and share with the hashtag #textbookbroke. Make sure you leave off any personal or sensitive information, but this helps bring attention to a growing problem. 

5. Advocate at your school.

Don’t stop at your friends. Tell everyone! Administrators, faculty, students... Many university and college libraries are advocates for OER and affordable education. You can also contact your college’s student government. The Student Government Toolkit from Open Textbook Alliance offers guidance on campaigns to raise awareness, ways to build student support, and how to create open textbook policies on your campus. 

4. Save OER on your phone or device.

Many OER come as a printable, saveable pdf. You can save it to your device to access offline later on. For example, the Open Textbook Library offers pdf versions for all their OER. 

3. Contribute to a Wikipedia article. 

Who doesn’t use Wikipedia? Give back to an amazing free internet resource. Make sure to link your edits to a verified source and help continue to expand and improve the world’s favorite online encyclopedia and world’s largest OER.

2.  Find something new.

Photos, music, videos, graphics... You can use the advanced search on google to find all types of content that can be reused, shared and enjoyed. On the advanced search page, check under “usage rights” to find Creative Commons licensed content.

1. Save money! 

And the best part of OER for anyone on a budget - they’re free!

P.S. Students are welcome at the Open Education Conference! There is a special student registration rate of $25 USD and full scholarships are available through this application form. We hope to see you there!