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The Louisiana Library Network (LOUIS), a program of the Louisiana Board of Regents, recently announced $26.8 million in reported savings for higher education students in Louisiana since 2012 by using Affordable Education Resources (AERs), Open Educational Resources (OERs), and other open access materials. Since 2015, Fletcher Technical Community College has saved students over $2 million by using open educational resources. An interactive display of Fletcher’s student savings and impact is available at https://louislibraries.org/alearningla.
“I am so proud to be a part of a team that works so diligently to reduce costs of course materials for students,” commented Jodi Duet, MLIS, Director of Library Services at Fletcher. “Through OER and AER efforts, the faculty and staff at Fletcher have proven that affordability and access are priorities, and we will continue to work to increase the savings for our students.”
Fletcher began using OER in 2015 with the adoption of a no-cost, open textbook for Freshmen Studies. Since 2015, Fletcher has been involved with the Louisiana Community and Technical College System e-learning Innovation Fund and Affordable Learning Louisiana projects. Affordable Learning Louisiana is led by LOUIS, The Louisiana Library Network. LOUIS partners libraries and faculty to save students money through the use of OER and AER.
OERs are openly licensed materials that are used for educational purposes. OERs often replace the student textbook entirely, and can be free resources or low-cost resources. These resources can be used for teaching and learning and can be adapted and redistributed. Faculty who adopt an OER for their course can ensure that students have first-day access to the course materials at little or no cost to them.
AERs are a single or collection of required educational resources that may be offered at no or low cost to a student through a post-secondary education institution or an affiliated college bookstore at a pre-sales tax cost to a student that does not exceed an amount equal to four times the federal minimum wage. AER includes copyright-protected material purchased by a library and provided to a student at no cost.
