In the news: An alternative to expensive college text书

I’ve never forgotten the shock during my early college years when I went into my campus 书tore to buy text书. The reading list for some of my courses listed up to seven 书. The cost of the 生物学 and chemistry 书 alone were astronomical — even the alternative of renting 书 was financially burdensome.

今天, the average college student spends more than $1,200 on 书 and materials over an academic year, 根据大学理事会的说法.

The average cost of 书 has “risen four times faster than the rate of inflation over the last 10 years,” according to a 2018 CBS 新闻 report. This traumatizing effect has caused 65 percent of students nationwide — most on restrictive budgets — to forgo 书 at some juncture of their college careers.

What’s driving the prohibitive costs of these text书? One culprit is the concept of bundled text书 with access codes, which expire at the end of the semester. These access codes require students to buy 书 at retail prices at college 书tores but are rendered worthless at the end of the term.

Luckily, for today’s students, the days of expensive college text书 are coming to an end. A revolutionary alternative is freeing students and faculty from costly materials while helping students learn without burdening their or their parents’ checkbook.

几年前，德克萨斯州州长. Greg Abbott signed into law SB 810, creating a statewide Open Educational 资源, or OER, grant. This gives Texas colleges and universities authority to establish protocols for OER course designations in college catalogs, 日程安排和注册.

什么是OER? 它可以制作视频, 书, scholarly articles and primary resource materials available to faculty and students at no cost. OER materials allow students and teachers to collaborate, develop, review and revise content shared 免费的 在知识共享平台上. These 教育al resources are easily adaptable for all college courses and meet the specifications for courses such as anatomy, 人类学, 生物学, 教育, 英语, 数学与人文.

With students already burdened with costly tuition and rising prices for 书, designated OER courses are advantageous, especially for first-generation students. Using open 教育al resources places students on an equal footing because digital material can be copied from Creative Commons websites that hold access to millions of videos, 照片和档案文本, even those that have an expired copyright, 属于公有领域.

The Texas State 图书馆 and the Archives Commission includes approximately 37 websites with varying degrees of OER material available to students who need college reading material. In addition, hundreds of universities, private and public, offer free assistance with a mere login.

I’ve used scholarly material from Creative Commons that offered free, translated ancient Greek and Roman literature with a mere attribution requirement. Some OER websites even allow students to engage in direct translation exercises. 换句话说, OER provides the student and the instructor materials that have been placed in the public domain for download.

美妙的, thick anthologies of yesteryear with accompanying pictures are evaporating as quickly as raindrops on a sizzling Texas afternoon. Courses with OER designation are the best solution for pricey 书 and materials. “libros, quam breve tempus”.

以下是博士的评论. 拉斐尔·卡斯蒂略, professor of 英语 and humanities at 帕洛阿尔托学院, was originally published in the 圣安东尼奥 Express-新闻 and expressnews.com.