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Hi _____,
How are you? Are you teaching [—–] again this fall? Fall semester book selection is coming up, so I wanted to pass along an OER textbook that might be of interest to you. OER’s are free for students and they can keep them forever. The following OERs can be found on the Open Textbook Network which is part of the University of Minnesota They have been peer-reviewed by professors in the field of —[] (just click the link that says ‘read more’). If you or someone else that teaches the course is interested in adopting it, UITS and myself can assist with any questions they might have about the process.
Insert Photo of Text Here and image of reviews from the OTN:
Open Educational Resources (OER) are any copyrightable work (or in the public domain) that is licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:
- Retain – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
- Reuse – the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
- Revise – the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
- Remix – the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
- Redistribute – the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend) be retain, reuse, revise, remix and redistribute
The cost of textbooks and learning material is a barrier to success. But, utilizing OERs is one of the easiest ways to help create equitable access and student participation in the classroom. While research on OERs is still in its infancy, recent studies have indicated that OER adoption contributes to improved course grades and withdrawal rates (which subsequently impact time-to-degree). Along with the overall reduction of per-semester costs that results from OER use, these factors point to the possibility of better retention rates for students using OERs as their primary textbooks. These elements also particularly benefit under-resourced students, for whom contingencies associated with cost, course performance, and time-to-degree can mean the difference between staying in college or dropping out.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
