Mojave County – Mojave Community College faculty have a goal of helping students save money on college by eliminating costly textbooks and course materials. They do this by finding or creating an open educational resource commonly referred to in the higher education community as her OER.
OER is free or low-cost learning material, and MCC has dozens of courses with instructors utilizing OER materials across all four campuses.
Life Sciences Instructor Eric Osborne was recently recognized as an OER Hero by the Higher Education Group.Open Textbooks in Rural Arizona.
Osborn has been building and publishing OER for the last five years. He recently worked with MCC Lab Technician Angel Soto to create a free chemistry lab manual that replaced the $200 traditional manual he needed for his class.
“Many students breathed a sigh of relief when we explained that all course materials were now free,” Osborne said. “For some students, buying a $300 textbook is equivalent to a month’s worth of groceries, a month’s bills, or a month’s gas to get to work or school, or It’s the cost of the daycare that the children need.”
Open Textbooks for Rural Arizona is made up of eight colleges committed to reducing costs for students. They identify the most enrolled courses with the most expensive study materials and work to eliminate or reduce costs for students.
“MCC Life Sciences has been using the free/low-cost model for years,” says Osborn. “In microbiology, textbooks and lab manuals cost him $400 to him $500, but OER replacements have made these materials available to students for free.”
During the 2017-2018 academic year, MCC Saves Students Over $500,000 in Textbook CostsFrom 2014 to 2018, colleges saved over $1 million in textbook costs for students thanks to OER materials. MCC continues to work to help students save as much money as possible on textbooks and educational materials.
For more information about the MCC Life Science degree program, visit Mohave.edu/LifeScience. Fall and Summer semester enrollment has begun at MCC. The summer semester begins on his May 22nd, and his fall semester classes begin on August 14th. The first step to becoming a student is apply.mohave.eduvisit your nearest campus or call 866-MOHAVECC for assistance.
