[quote style=”2″]March 12-13 Conference To Focus on Cost-Saving Program[/quote]
Blue Mountain Community College students saved over $100,000 in textbook costs from 2013- 2015, thanks to Open Education Resources (OERs).
OERs are about utilizing learning materials and other resources that are freely available, either through educational networks, open textbooks, open web resources or leveraging resources that are available in a library’s resource collection. It is an innovative model of sharing and creating resources and teaching materials among educators who share the common goal of providing student with a quality education at a lower cost and reinvigorating pedagogy.
With textbook affordability in mind, BMCC E-Learning Coordinator Bruce Kauss worked with faculty and publishers to save BMCC students over $100,000 since 2013 through the use of OERs. For example, a biology textbook typically costs a student around $200 to purchase. Through OERs, a student could receive much of the information for free or with a nominal $32 charge for a printed copy.
Now a conference hosted by BMCC will host a conference on March 12-13 to show others how OERs can benefit students.
BMCC expects around 50 participants in the conference at the Pendleton campus. The OER Conference will also feature a keynote presentation Thursday from 6-8 p.m. in ST-200 by Dr. Cable Green, director of Global Learning at Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share.
BMCC student speakers will also share their experiences with saving money through OERs. To register, or for more information contact BMCC Director of Library and Media Services Jackie Ray, jray@bluecc.edu or 541-278-5916; or E-Learning Coordinator Bruce Kauss, bkauss@bluecc.edu or 541-278-5763. To learn more about OERs, visit BMCC’s OER resource page.
