A shift away from traditional college textbooks is helping Washtenaw Community College students save millions of dollars.
WCC officials estimate their Open Educational Resources, or OER, program has helped students avoid purchasing 1$0.1 million worth of textbooks since its launch in 2017.
Instead, students learn using freely available digital textbooks and other no-cost material.
The college’s faculty librarian, Molly Lederman, says OER content is peer-reviewed and highly adaptable.
“Faculty can sometimes piece together parts of different OER textbooks to really customize a textbook, specifically to the course being taught on our campus and making it really relevant."
More than 300 courses are currently taught using OER material at Washtenaw Community College, including ones that make up four entire degree programs.
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