Okay, friends, gather around for a story about why open access textbooks are so incredibly important (shared with permission of the student).
I had a student come into my office yesterday - I've worked with her for awhile now. She's an incredibly hard worker, resilient as hell, one of those students that makes the job worth it.
We were talking about some family issues she's been dealing with and then she sort of paused. She said she needed to go so she could try to talk to her professors about something.
I pried (we have a relationship where that's an okay response). She said she was having some financial difficulties and couldn't get textbooks right now, so she needed to see what kind of an effect that would have in her classes.
I asked what classes she was taking, and I luckily had one of the books sitting on my shelf. I told her to send me the rest of her books and I would order them. She was so incredibly grateful and shocked (not the point of the story, stay with me).
I went to our bookstore website last night, fully expecting to put down several hundred dollars. The three books she still needed were $65. $65 was what stood between this incredible student being able to start the term successfully, or in a state of panic.
I think this story is important because I often hear faculty saying that full open access isn't possible. That their textbooks are "only" $70, so it's not a burden. And, yeah, sure $70 is better than $150 is better than $300.
But if we continue to think "oh, it's just $65," we will continue to have students like this one being disadvantaged. Scraping by. Choosing between food and books. Dropping out.
When 1/3 of your students (or higher) are food insecure, you're asking them to choose between eating and being successful in your class. npr.org/sections/thesa…
When institutions talk about retention, pushing for open access course materials should be at the top of the list.
When institutions talk about retention, pushing for open access course materials should be at the top of the list.
So, what's the take-away? Stop assuming that X amount of money that's doable for you won't be a barrier for your students. Because unless that amount is $0, it will be a barrier for someone.
Work on developing courses that don't have additional costs. That could be a traditional #OER text, or not. Educate yourself on what #RealCollege looks like (if you don't follow @saragoldrickrab, you should).
Listen to your students. Learn from your students. Be kind to your students.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
