As we near the end of Open Education Week 2022, we are turning the Library blog over to Kevin Holechko, Vice President of DePaul University’s Student Government Association (SGA) would like to share how SGA is advocating for the adoption of open educational resources (OER) on DePaul’s campus in the following blog post.
SGA has been working with the DePaul University Library to explore OER adoption at DePaul and how these texts might better help our students. For those who are not familiar with these materials, OERs or open-source textbooks are classroom texts that are free and downloadable for students to use in their courses. What makes OER texts great is that they are free, which helps with the immense cost of higher education. It’s also important to note that these textbooks are of similar quality as the ones students are paying for now. It’s encouraging that open-source texts are becoming more prevalent at DePaul. While it is true that not every class at DePaul will be able to adopt open-source texts, these materials can have a positive impact in introductory courses in particular. As stated before, this is happening at DePaul: the Psychology Department and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have adopted OER for several of their introductory courses.
As costs continue to rise for higher education, it is becoming more important for institutions to focus on lowering the cost of attendance. Over the next few months, DePaul’s Student Government Association will be working with our partners in the Library and Faculty Council to continue exploring which classes might be able to adopt an open-source textbook. This is just another way SGA is committed to helping lower the costs of higher education while still supporting our students with the best resources they need to succeed. To learn more about how the Student Government Association supports students, follow us on our social media accounts @depaulsga.