Free and reduced-cost textbooks at Garrett College

What are Open Educational Resources (OERs)?

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation define Open Educational Resources as:

Teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.

Open educational resources include full courses, course material, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.

OERs and Low-Cost Textbooks Initiatives at Garrett College

Garrett College has adopted the Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative definition by the University System of Maryland. M.O.S.T. defines open educational resources as those that replace traditional textbooks with learning resources that:

• Are openly licensed with a Creative Commons CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International License.
• Are fully accessible according to WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 Standards.
• Are openly and freely available outside their delivery platforms.

• Provide students with day-one access to their learning materials.
• Allow students to retain access to the OER content after the course is completed.
• Are continuously updated and maintained.
• Are easily discoverable.
• Support learning-centered pedagogies and continuous quality improvement.
• Ensure total course material costs do not exceed $40, with lower costs preferred.

Garrett College first began using Open Educational Resources and incorporating low-cost textbook initiatives in the fall of 2017. We believe providing our students with free and/or low-cost textbook materials is one of the many benefits of attending Garrett College as a student.

With the rising costs in college tuition and textbooks across the nation, many students are searching for additional cost-saving measures. Unfortunately, many students choose to opt out of purchasing textbooks, which ultimately leads to decreased levels of success in the classroom.

We want our students to be successful both in and out of the classroom. We believe offering textbooks at little to no cost is a huge benefit for students enrolled at Garrett College.

Advantages of OERs and Low-Cost Textbook Courses

In addition to offering textbooks and course materials at little to no cost, both OERs and low-cost textbook courses offer a variety of advantages for academic institutions, including:

• Reduce resource costs for students
• Engage with other educators
• Build partnerships across institutions
• Share learning and teaching experiences
• Enhance the quality of educational resources
• Provide real-life experiences for students in the classroom
• And many, many more!

Garrett College Students – Current OER and Low-Cost Textbook Course List^*

Curious to see which types of courses at Garrett College utilize OERs or low-cost textbooks? The following table demonstrates courses with textbooks and course fees totaling less than $40. ^{Updated 4/12/2022}

* Although these courses provide students with low cost/OER textbook options, the courses below are dependent upon both course selection and material type selected. Students are encouraged to check with their advisor/instructor prior to course registration

The Latest in OER Development at Garrett College

• OER Grants Awarded:
• 2019 M.O.S.T. Mini-Grant
• 2020 M.O.S.T. Institutional Grant
• 2020 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Grant
• OER in the News
• GC, ACM jointly host regional OER Forum
• College, Foundation, donors combine on OER effort

OER Resources

• Getting Started with OER – Garrett College LibGuide
• Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.)