Monday, March 21, 2016

How to Go Textbook Free - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

The University of Maryland University College is the largest institution in the country to go "commando" on textbooks. As of this academic year undergraduates don't have to lug them around or spend a dime on them — and the benefits don't end there. Here's how UMUC achieved an amazing goal. If you're waiting for the day when open educational resources (OER) have truly arrived on campus in a big way, you're late to class. As of fall 2015, the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) no longer expects any undergraduate to spend money on textbooks. By next fall, the same will be true for its graduate students. The conservative estimate of savings for the university's 84,000 students is somewhere north of $10 million per year. And more importantly, the university has reason to believe that student learning is improving under the new strategy. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/03/09/textbook-free.aspx