After tuition, textbook costs remain a staggering expense for many college students.
That’s why Central Virginia Community College is trying to draw those costs down by introducing open educational resources — free online textbooks — into the curriculum.
“We want to remove barriers for our students, and one of them is the cost of books,” said Muriel Mickles, CVCC vice president of academic and student affairs.
The initiative dates to 2016, when CVCC received a grant to develop open educational resources. It now has 30 courses and is developing three programs around the usage of these online money-saving materials. Many of the classes are general studies. The three programs currently in development are general studies and science associate degrees and a certificate in general education. Mickles said these programs will be available in January.
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Juville Dario-Becker, a CVCC biology professor, is leading the charge on open educational resources. She wrote the grant that allowed CVCC to explore the initiative in 2016 and now is leading the shift from traditional textbooks to free online alternatives.
“On the first day of class, you don’t have to line up at the bookstore to buy the book; it’s here [online],” Dario-Becker said.
Open educational resources are digital textbooks compiled by academics, including CVCC staff. The open license nature of the resources means professors can add their own edits and customize the materials to their classes as long as they use information in the public domain. The materials then must be certified by Lumen Learning — an open educational resources provider — to ensure no copyrighted materials are used. Materials then can be used in a course where students can access them online for free or purchase a hard copy.
Because of the nature of open educational resources, which draws from the public domain, hard-copy textbooks can be purchased at reduced costs, Dario-Becker noted Tuesday as she held up a $22 textbook that she said otherwise would cost a student $150.
Mickles described open educational resources as a perfect fit for CVCC, noting reduced costs allow their students, who often are low income, to afford higher education more easily.
“Our mission is to provide access to quality education to all citizens,” Mickles said.
Students can search courses using open educational resources on the CVCC website.
The open educational resources movement is beginning to pick up as the cost of college soars. According to a 2013 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, new textbook prices rose by 82 percent from 2002 to 2012; tuition and fees rose by 89 percent in that same time.
According to a National Association of College Stores survey, more students are accessing free course materials, with 25 percent of respondents saying they used free materials in spring 2017. That number is up from 19 percent the previous year; textbook rentals also are rising.
CVCC estimated open educational resources have saved students about $250,000 since 2016.
Dale Dunham, a CVCC student from Altavista who is pursuing an associate degree in science, said he has used open educational resources as part of his coursework. Dunham said he uses online textbooks but often prints the chapters out himself to avoid staring at a screen.
Dunham said he appreciated the convenience and savings.
“A couple hundred dollars extra helps pay the bills and feed the family,” Dunham said.
Dario-Becker said while CVCC has embraced open educational resources, the U.S. education system as a whole has been slow to move toward free online learning materials.
“This is a worldwide movement, and the U.S. is probably 10 years behind,” she said, pointing to international declarations in 2007 and 2012 to develop open education resources.
Open educational resources recently came up in the General Assembly with the passage of HB454 this spring. The legislation requires each public college in Virginia “to implement guidelines for the adoption and use of” open educational resources in curriculum.