Open Educational Resources (OER)
Low-cost and No-cost Textbooks
We Remove Barriers
Are you tired of paying the high cost of textbooks? Are you forced to make tough financial
choices regarding course materials? Do you wish there was an affordable way? There
is! Low- and no-cost textbooks are the solution to the increasingly cost-prohibitive
textbook market. More and more BCC classes are using low- and no-cost textbooks.
No-cost textbooks are free of charge, free to copy and free to share. They are available on the first
day of class. No more anxiously waiting for textbooks to arrive. And, no more textbook
stress.
Low-cost textbooks are published materials that cost $50 or less. The state of Massachusetts sets the
cost for low-cost textbooks, which BCC has adopted.
Students
How much have low- and no-cost textbooks saved BCC students so far?
2023 – 2024 Estimate: $377,138
2022 – 2023 Estimate: $336,736
In September 2023, the Student OER Committee created a survey to measure textbook
costs and their impacts on BCC students.
OER Spotlight and News
Read about BCC professors work with OER:
Professor Wins Open Education Resources Award
OER Spotlight
Faculty
Looking for OER materials? Our BCC OER LibGuide contains many open resource repositories,
as well as information on Creative Commons copyright licenses, adapting and creating
OERs, and much more.
If you would like assistance searching the OER repositories, or would like a librarian
to presearch for you, please fill out and submit the OER Search Form above.
The OER Newsletter is your connection to the what's happening with the BCC OER Program
and beyond.
OER Moodle Workshop
This OER workshop was created by Matt Martin, Coordinator of Instructional Design.
The overarching goal for the workshop is to help all participants gain a deeper understanding
of open educational resources and practices. Put simply, we hope that at the conclusion
of this workshop, you'll have a richer picture of the OER available for you to use,
get a sense for the possibilities for using it, and find ways to keep moving open
education forward, in your own teaching practice and beyond. For more information
about the Moodle Workshop, email Matt Martin or stop by Teaching and Learning Innovation.
