We use cookies to give you the best experience and to help improve our website. How we use cookies.
What are Open Educational Resources (OER)? OERs are instructional materials that have been released under a Creative Commons copyright license, including textbooks and other resources.
OERs save students money compared to the cost of traditional textbooks, providing immediate access to quality educational materials. Butler is proud to use and develop new OERs as an innovative leader in the region.
The high and still rising costs of college textbooks have created a financial burden for most students, with many reporting that they have skipped meals to afford books or even compromised their educations. According to Follett, an education technology company, textbook prices have gone up more than 800% since 1978. In a 2018 study by Cengage, a global education and technology company, 43% of current and former students said they have skipped meals to afford books and 31% said they take fewer classes to cut down on textbook costs. At Butler, OER charges vary by course, but are substantially less than textbooks.
For Butler students enrolled in English classes, the OER textbooks are home grown. With new Butler-authored English OER textbooks, offered for the first time during the 2018-19 academic year, students in EG 101 Comp I and EG 102 Comp II classes saw their textbook tab for each class drop from as much as $240 to just $10. In Fall 2020, an LT 201 Introduction to Literature course OER was added, and in Fall 2022, an EG 060 Fundamentals of English OER, both for $10. Given the number of students who have taken the English and Literature courses since the changes, there have been over 1.8 million dollars in savings.
While that is significant, it is just the beginning.
Butler is committed to innovating and supporting our vision for improving education through OER. As a regional leader in OER, we support faculty adoption and content development. Click the button below to find out how you can get involved with this initiative.
We ❤ OER at Butler. Open textbooks offer peer-reviewed open texts that are reviewed, created or curated by Butler Community College faculty. Additional resources are constantly being developed by our faculty and shared with the world. From astronomy to English comp to physics, these textbooks are a tremendous resource for our community.
