Attend the upcoming Open Education Resources Forum
The MassPIRGStudents has joined the the national movement supporting open access, in particular the development of open textbooks as part of the campus fabric. MassPIRGStudents is committed to effecting change to make degree completion more affordable by reducing out of pocket costs. According to MassPIRGStudents, UMass Boston students spend $900 per year in textbooks. The national average is slightly higher at $1,200. The figures are exorbitant considering print textbooks can be outdated almost as they come off the press.
Universities nationwide are supporting faculty and others in the development of OER and Open Textbooks:
Organizations such as Creative Commons, Digital Public Library of America, and Public Library of Science all support the development of open education resources. The OER movement is not only in higher education: according to Creative Commons, state education departments are looking at the development of electronic textbooks to reduce expenditures in textbooks purchased for K-12 school systems.
Our sister campus, UMass Amherst, has an Open Educational Resource fund in conjunction with a library-based effort for promoting the development of open textbooks.
On Friday March 13, IT and the Library will sponsor an Open Educational Forum to bring this important topic to light to the campus. The event will highlight qualitative issues around OER and E-Textbooks and showcase the potential for student out-of-pocket savings.