College students are a powerful but often overlooked ally in the open education movement. As the primary beneficiaries of OER, students are uniquely positioned to be effective advocates to instructors, colleges and policy makers. However, students often understand openness differently than members of the community do, and may value it for different reasons. In this session, the directors of two large student efforts for open education and open access will share exclusive insight into the student perspective on openness, examples of what students from across the globe are doing to have an impact, and to begin engaging students in open education efforts.
The average U.S. college student spends more than $1,000 per year on textbooks, which can rival the cost of tuition at some institutions. As textbook prices continue to soar more than quadruple the rate of inflation, the inefficient and anti-consumer practices of the traditional publishing industry only make matters worse.
Open textbooks and other OER have tremendous potential as a solution to this problem. With today's rapidly changing student preferences, open textbooks could revolutionize the way textbooks are bought and sold - the full text is offered free online, low-cost hard copies can be sold in the bookstore, and a wide range of print and digital formats are available online. Open textbooks also give instructors more tools to shape students' learning environment, acting as an important gateway to more extensive use of OER.
