Open Educational Resources

"Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium - digital or otherwise - that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions." - William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

According to the Florida Virtual Campus's 2016 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey, students took the following actions as a result of textbook costs:

• 66.6% didn't purchase the required textbook
• 45.5% didn't register for a course
• 47.6% took fewer courses
• 26.1% dropped a course 
• 20.7% withdrew from a course
• 19.8% failed a course

Other key findings of the survey: 

• The high cost of textbooks is negatively impacting student access, success, and completion.
• Textbook costs for Florida university and college students continue to trend higher.
• Required textbooks are purchased but not always used in course instruction.
• In terms of the cost of textbooks and other course materials, college students are in worse shape than university students.
• Students in Associate or Bachelor’s degree programs spent more on textbooks than students in Master’s or Doctorate degree programs.
• Florida students are reducing costs by a variety of means.
• Financial aid covers less textbook costs now than in 2012.

The mission of ERAU's Daytona Beach campus OER initiative is to provide high-quality, low- or no-cost educational resources to students, and to assist faculty members in adopting, adapting, and creating their own OER materials and courses.

Charter: The Open Educational Resources committee, composed of Task Force on Innovation members as well as representatives of the Faculty, CTLE, Hunt Library, Student Affairs, and the Bookstore, will explore issues and processes related to the identification and adoption of OERs on the Daytona Beach Campus.  This will include identifying industry standards, raising awareness of OERs as a substitute for costly textbooks, recommending processes, and addressing related issues as they arise.