Join the Transformation: Open Education and Affordable Learning Georgia

Abstract

In Short The cost of course materials creates a gap between students who can afford them and students who cannot. Open educational resources (OER) are one way to close this gap through freely shared and flexible instructor-authored resources. OER programs have plenty of support through organizations that coordinate conferences, highly impactful open textbook creation, OER curation and reviews, and research on the use of OER in the classroom. Affordable Learning Georgia’s grant and partnership programs have saved students more than $140 million in textbook costs since 2014. One hundred and nineteen million dollars in textbook costs were saved through a grant program, and a partnership with a statewide core curriculum and online major program has led to over $24 million in savings. Campus leaders looking to start an OER program should first gather their champions, then set up the infrastructure for a program, plan out how to collect and report impact data, and be prepared to share all new educational resources created through their programs as OER.