The Open Education Resource program at UWM hopes to improve the costs of textbooks for students. OER offers free textbooks and other resources for many of the general education requirement classes at UWM.
“We focus on large enrollment classes, because that tends to be where the more pricey textbooks are popular,” said Kristian Woodward, director of the program. “That has a nice, big impact on the student body, then when they can take an entry level course without having that cost of a big textbook.”
Since its implementation in 2016, the OER program has saved students at UWM over $5 million and helped an estimated 44,000 students, according to Woodward.
OER collects teaching and research materials that are public domain and works with professors to encourage them to use books that are in the database, which then makes the books free to use for students. There is also material for professors to use, and the OER staff works with faculty to help make sure they are aware of the free resource available for students.
“We know at UWM that students tell us they can’t afford to purchase their books, but then they also report that they pay for it academically, so it can affect their grade, and can affect whether they register for classes,” said Woodward. “So it’s really about making sure that students have the materials that they need for the course that the faculty have selected and said is essential to doing well in this course.”
Woodward estimates that there are around 150 UWM classes that offer free textbooks through OER. The UWM course catalog has a filter from classes that are low or no additional cost that students can use when registering for classes.
A list of classes at UWM that offer free textbooks can be found here, and more information about OER can be found here.