Saving Your Students Money By Using OERs

By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL

Jon Bull decided to make using open educational resources (OERs) a priority for his work at VU in order to help with student retention. That is why Jon instituted the OER Development Awards. This program, now in its sixth year, awards faculty from $500-$2,000 to move their class from textbook to OER. Read on to learn more about OERs and this VU program. Two OER Award recipients, Sara Gundersen (Economics) and Mandy Brobst-Renaud (Theology), talk about the positive impact that throwing away the textbook has had on their students and themselves.

Jon Bull, Library: Helping Your Students Afford to Stay in College

Jon Bull is concerned about students who struggle to afford college. So he was excited to learn about low-income community college students receiving a “Z-degree,” that is, a degree program that uses only course resources that cost the students nothing. At a conference he attended, these students talked about how, without the heavy burden of textbook costs, they could afford groceries and were able to finish school.  Many were new to the U.S. or are first generation students. 

At our own institution, Jon found that the two biggest reasons students leave VU are financial and academic; he views OERs as a way to combat both.  Not using a traditional textbook both lowers the financial burden on students and also gives faculty the chance to be more innovative with the class. That is why Jon instituted the OER Development Award Initiative at VU. This program, now in its sixth year,  awards faculty from $500-$2,000 to move their class from textbook to OERs.  With five years of data, they have seen a 75% approval rating among students.  But the statistic that really floored Jon is that when students are asked if they would have paid $126 for a textbook (the average textbook cost),10% say that whether the class used OERs or not, they would not have bought or even rented the book. That means that 10% of our students may not be able to afford our course materials, which has a big impact on student persistence and retention.  Jon estimates that over the last five years the OER Initiative at VU has saved our students a total of $22,000-$65,000.

One of the great things OERs do, Jon says,  is free up faculty to teach what they want.  When students have purchased, say, a $300 textbook, faculty feel guilty if they choose to use only 1 or 2 chapters. But with OERs, they can pick and choose exactly what they want students to read at no cost. Faculty can build a “Frankenstein text” of their own making, reading selections in any order, drawing on several books and articles. Even those who continue to use a traditional textbook can still add other OER texts for supplemental reading. For example, he has worked with Engineering and Mathematics faculty who choose to keep their textbook, but add supplemental material that makes the textbook easier for students to comprehend. Some have created their own workbooks or problem sets.

Jon is most excited about faculty who are using library-licensed content, material they get through library databases.  Since the library purchases these materials and makes them available to all students, they are happy to see faculty draw on these resources.

Jon’s final note on why faculty should consider using OERs is that you are saving your students money from the very first class.  With OERs, finances will not get in the way of students’ progress in our classes. It is one less thing for our students to worry about. Jon realizes that not everyone can use OERs; it depends on your discipline and your goals. But you don’t know until you ask!

Jon provided the following list of resources for OERs:

The webpage for VU’s OER Development Awards

The third year executive summary of the award’s impact: https://libguides.valpo.edu/ld.php?content_id=67203097

Three excellent places to find OERs online: 

• Open Textbook Library,
• OpenStax
• OER Commons

Finally,  here is a link to a VITAL blog post that Jon wrote about OERs: Free Alternatives To Textbooks: OER

Sara Gundersen, Economics: Gain Flexibility by Scrapping your Textbook

Sara’s department has been using an online educational resource (OER) for their introduction- level course for years now.  It all began at a department retreat where they were reviewing new textbooks for their introductory course. The chair brought in twelve different textbooks, expecting an hour-long discussion. Then he casually mentioned that there was also a free one online. They all said “done” and have been using an online textbook for the course ever since. They found this textbook in OpenStax, an online repository (largely donation-based)  that contains not just free textbooks, but a plethora of instructor resources such as PP slides, test banks, and answer guides. 

For her own classes, Sara has been moving away from textbooks for some time. She really enjoys the freedom that this allows her, since she likes to change things up based on current events and class interest. For example, during the pandemic she created a class on the economics of COVID.  In lieu of a textbook, she collected articles and posted them in Perusall, a student engagement platform, where students read and comment directly on texts, just like social media postings. 

For her course The Economics of Race & Gender, no one textbook had everything she wanted to include.  So she again used a free textbook from OpenStax just for the fundamental concepts. Then she posted other articles and other resources in Perusall.

One unexpected benefit of using OERs has been improved class attendance. One of her students reported that for courses with a textbook she sometimes skips class, because she can just read the textbook. But for Sara’s classes, she feels that she not only has to come to class but also take good notes or else she might miss something important. 

When Sara used to use a textbook, she felt guilty whenever she wanted to skip a chapter and cover something current, because her students had paid so much for the book. But now, when, for example,  digital art is in the news, she feels free to skip the syllabus plan and instead she and her Economics & Art class attend a webinar on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). (An NFT is a unique digital piece of art that can cost millions in crypto currency.) 

Sara admits that scrapping the textbook is not for everyone. One of her colleagues likes the structure of having a textbook because it covers the subject from several angles. But even that colleague has begun to also include some open access books as additional course resources.

Sara recently received one of the Library’s OER Development Awards.  If you are considering applying for one, she recommends that you start with a class where you are currently using a textbook. Then do your research in advance so you have a detailed plan ready for where you expect to find online the articles and books you will use to replace your textbook. 

Amanda Brobst-Renaud, Theology: Using OERs to Bring in Other Voices

Mandy uses OERs for her theology classes because she has found that a lot of textbooks in Biblical studies are lacking diverse voices.  Using OERs allows her to bring modern viewpoints as well as feminist and BIPOC voices into the conversation.  For her Theology 200 course, for example she pairs each Bible reading with an article about the modern valence of the text. She pairs the Abraham and Issac story with an article about current events in Israel and Palestine.  When they read an epistle about the value of suffering they watch a TED talk by a professor of theology who is a cancer survivor.  Like Sara, she houses all these resources in Perusall  so that students can not only comment on the texts and videos but also see and respond to the comments of others. She sees evidence that using Perusall has greatly increased her students’ reading. She estimates that in the past around 10% of her students did the reading for class;  now it is more like 90%.

For her Theology 312 course, Mandy uses an online resource Enter the Bible to give students the basics of what to look for in each biblical text.  Then she adds diverse voices at the end. For example, they read an article by a female theologian on how the Book of James might have been written to a migrant community.  She pairs accounts of African-American lynchings with the account of Jesus on the cross for a discussion on state-sanctioned violence. 

Even though theology textbooks are not very expensive, she estimates that she saves 60-90 students around $100 per semester. Sometimes students email her about where they should purchase the textbook. They are pleasantly surprised to learn that that isn’t one.

For her personally, the rewards of this method are great. Using OERs has opened her up to looking for other perspectives on biblical texts, which she calls the “pay-off” for her students and herself.  She thinks that using such texts really justifies the role of theology in general education by showing the students connections to their own lives and time. She also sees some of that pay-off in her student’s writing. They are starting to ask better questions because they see the biblical texts not just as old stories but as windows into their own lives. They reflect on their own journeys more and connect more deeply to the texts. 

Mandy cautions other faculty that there is some legwork involved in finding these other resources for the class. But for her, the rewards on the other side completely justify the front-end work. She says: “Don’t be afraid to look in lots of different places for your materials. You might be surprised what connections you can make.”  She draws on texts from psychology, medicine, and lots of other fields, so that her students really can see themselves and their disciplines represented.  She suggests that, if you are interested, you should apply for VU’s OER award to help you make the leap. Applying for the award gives you an opportunity for reflection, so it helps you to decide which class is a good match for this.