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While cost savings is an oft-cited reason for colleges to switch to Open Educational Resources (OER), it has a much greater impact than just putting money back in students’ pockets. OER use has been shown to lead to increased student success, lower Drop Withdraw Failure (DWF) rates, and enable students to enroll in more classes. Day-one access to learning materials levels the playing field and increases equity between students who can afford to purchase books before the first class and those who have to wait or can’t afford to buy class materials at all. Knowing that professors were willing to take the extra effort to develop and adopt OER can make students feel more supported and that their professors and college really care enough to help them succeed.

Using OER also has secondary effects. OER creation on campuses can lead to student jobs, where student employees develop skills in publishing and graphic design. Student OER advocates learn to be leaders as they work with faculty, students, and administrators to promote the use of OER. Student advocates have run workshops and on-campus marketing campaigns, and even participated in regional, national, and global workshops and conferences.

View all Student Stories at: https://www.cccoer.org/student-stories/

CCCOER’s OER Impact Student Stories are from students who have been impacted by OER and became advocates for this new way of teaching and learning. If you know of a student in your organization that has been directly impacted by OER either through classes, open pedagogy, internships, advocacy, or development work, please complete our Student Profile Suggestions Google form.