Alberta Textbook broke
The high cost of educational resources and textbooks creates a serious obstacle to the accessibility and affordability of post-secondary education. Traditional educational resources also present barriers to innovation in pedagogy and curriculum design. Fortunately, Open Educational Resources (OER) are a viable solution to both these problems, since they can be accessed for free online, printed at a fraction of the cost of a textbook, and can supliment the need of a traditional textbook. They can also be edited to better fit the curricular or pedagogical goals of an instructor.
PREVENTING ROBUST LEARNING
65% of students indicated that they did not purchase textbooks at one point in their schooling due to cost.
MANAGING OPPORTUNITY COSTS
35% of students reduced their semesterly
course load due to textbook cost.
What Are Open Educational Resources?
Open Education Resources (OER) can be any type of educational material: their scale varies from
something as small as a class handout or image, a textbook, online courses, YouTube videos, or even Podcasts! While traditional course resources come with restrictive copyright laws, OER use open copyright licenses like Creative Commons. Depending on the creator’s desires, these licenses allow for different degrees of openness and may restrict or preclude users from engaging in one or more of the 5Rs. The 5Rs were created by David Wiley and published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at: http://opencontent.org/
1. Retain – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content.
2. Reuse – the right to use the content in a wide range of ways.
3. Revise – the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself.
4. Remix – the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create
something new.
5. Redistribute – the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your
remixes with others.
Do you want to learn more about how Open Educational Resources are created and maintained?
Click here for more information!
Student dollars saved in BC since 2012
Student dollars saved in Ontario since 2015
Student dollars saved in Alberta since 2012
What Can I Do?
Join the online provincial conversation on OERs by following #textbookbrokeAB, and posting online your experience with OERs. You can also tweet your textbook receipt using the hashtag #textbookbrokeAB to share how the rising costs of textbooks are affecting you.
Talk to an instructor you think would be interested in adopting open education resources, or point them to your institution’s library for information on OERs. You can also contact your Students’ Association or Union if you’re interested in talking to your instructors but would like more support getting started.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE #TEXTBOOKBROKEAB SURVEY!
HELP US TO CHANGE POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION IN ALBERTA!
RESOURCES
FOR STUDENTS
Are you interested in participating in bringing the textbook broke campagin to you campus? Download our campaign guide here, it has helpful tips to start working with staff and facuilty today!
Campaign Overview
Campaign Materials – Bookmark, Poster
Resources
FOR FACULTY
Are you interested in using OERs in your classroom? Check out our informational fact sheet and additional resources below.
FOR INSTITUTIONS
Are you interested in using OERs on your Campus? Check out our informational fact sheet and additional resources below.
FOR GOVERNMENT
Are you interested in changing the way Post-Secondary Education is delivered in Alberta? Check out our informational fact sheet and additional resources below.
PARTNERSHIPS
