4.8 - Content Options: Library and OER Resources
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As our learning environments increasingly include online resources, many faculty have considered alternatives to traditional textbooks. Online textbooks and materials provided by publishers are one option, but free resources available through the LATTC library, and Open Educational Resources (OERs) offer high-quality, Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) options worthy of review, especially as more attention has been given to the financial challenges many students face with food, housing, and other basic necessities.
Library Resources
LATTC's library includes access to digital resources such as academic journals, eBooks, and professional educational video on par with many universities. You can add links to your Canvas courses providing seamless access for your students to most library resources. To learn more, and to browse LATTC library resources in your discipline, here are some starting points (LATTC login may be required for these links, or when you begin drilling down from these):
- The library has some great how-to guides Links to an external site. for faculty and students on research help, including citation guides and writing help.
- Subject guides Links to an external site. can help you and your students more quickly find relevant articles for your discipline. Or team up with a librarian to create a research guide specifically for your class.
Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials shared under a license allowing for free use, alteration, and/or integration into new contexts. Many faculty are finding OER to be at least as effective as traditional publisher texts for their courses, and students are far more likely to acquire, use, and retain course materials when they are free or very low cost! Research is showing OERs positively benefit equity and student success by enabling more students to access and use course materials, and by enabling access to disciplines that students might previously have avoided due to a reputation for high textbook costs.
Zero-Textbook Cost (ZTC) classes and programs rely on OER and other online resources to eliminate textbook costs for students; Low-Textbook Cost (LTC) classes have materials costing $40 or less. ZTC and LTC classes have special designations in LATTC's class schedule in PeopleSoft. Let your department chair know if you are using these types of resources and they will add the icon and note in PeopleSoft
Faculty interested in OER and/or ZTC course materials are encouraged to first discuss their interest with colleagues. You may discover that someone in your department is already using OER and/or has at least investigated some options. OER users are sharers!
LATTC has received several OER-related state grants since 2016. Funds may still be available to help support faculty with OER discovery, curation, and course redesign to reduce textbook costs. LATTC's librarians can also support faculty efforts to investigate, curate, and adopt OER, and adapt course designs around the new material. Contact the library if you are interested in exploring this possibility.
Extending Your Professional Learning
Would you like to explore Open Educational Resources further?
- Browse the resources provided by the ASCCC OER Initiative Links to an external site.
- Explore research Links to an external site. on OER use and impact
Image Credit
Photo by Finn Hackshaw Links to an external site. on Unsplash Links to an external site.