Orange Coast College is one of 12 schools selected to participate in the 2021-2022 OpenStax Institutional Partnership program at Rice University. As a participant in the network’s first-year program, OCC will work to actively build and execute a strategy that will encourage greater use of free, flexible textbooks among its faculty and students.
“OCC was chosen to participate in this strategic partnership with OpenStax by demonstrating an eagerness to drive adoption of open educational resources (OER),” says OCC OER Coordinator and Professor of History Melissa Archibald. “Free to access and fully modifiable, OER provides students and educators with fair and flexible teaching and learning materials.”
Participants in the OpenStax Institutional Partner Program will receive individualized consulting from OpenStax and join a cohort of colleges and universities advocating widespread use of OER at their schools. On average, the institutions who join the network increase the number of students impacted by OER by 158% after completing the first year. To date, the program has resulted in more than 20 million dollars of additional savings from OER.
“Many of our faculty have embraced OER over the past few years, but this partnership with OpenStax represents a campus-wide effort to improve equity,” says Archibald. “Through OER adoption, we can eliminate financial and accessibility barriers and improve student success at OCC. I am thrilled to be a part of this mission and look forward to the transformations that are sure to take place on campus.”
Open educational resources, including the free, openly licensed textbooks offered by OpenStax, eliminate cost barriers for students and allow unrestricted, immediate access to learning materials, increasing the likelihood for students to complete their courses successfully. In addition to the immediate benefits to students, open educational resources are offered under a Creative Commons license, allowing instructors to modify textbooks to better serve their unique teaching and evolving student needs.