1 Why Should I Consider Using OER in My Course?

More Than a Free Textbook

Open Educational Resources (OER) are often introduced as a way to save students money. That is an important reason to consider them, but it is only the beginning.

Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that are free to access and openly licensed so others can use them and, depending on the license, adapt and share them.

That open license is what makes OER different from something that is simply available at no cost. A free website, article, video, textbook, or other resource is not necessarily OER if you do not have permission to adapt or share it.

OER can help ensure that students have access to the materials they need from the beginning of the course. They can also give you something that traditional publisher materials often cannot: the freedom to shape, update, combine, and share learning materials based on what your students need to learn.

At its best, OER brings together student access, faculty expertise, thoughtful course design, and a larger community of educators who are willing to share their work with one another.

How OER Can Reduce Barriers for Students

For some students, the cost of a textbook is more than an inconvenience. It can determine whether they purchase the book at all or when they are able to purchase it.

Students may begin a semester before financial aid is available to purchase required materials. Others may delay buying a book, try to share with another student, rely on an older edition, or decide that they simply cannot afford it. Research from Achieving the Dream found that more than half of surveyed students had gone without required course materials at least once, with cost being the most common reason.^[1]

OER can help reduce these barriers by providing:

• Lower costs: students do not have to choose between purchasing required learning materials and meeting other financial needs;
• Day-one access: students can begin using the primary learning materials immediately rather than waiting for financial aid or delaying a purchase;
• Equitable access: every student can begin the course with access to the same required materials; and
• Flexible formats: students can use the online resource and, when available, choose a printed copy if that better supports how they learn.

Open does not have to mean digital-only. Some students prefer or need a printed book. When you use OER, you should still consider how students can obtain an affordable print copy when they want one. At Palomar, that may include working with the Bookstore and Print Services to provide a print option.

Reducing Instructional Material Costs Is a California Priority

Ensuring that students can access required learning materials when they need them is increasingly part of a larger effort across the California Community Colleges.

California’s burden-free instructional materials regulations require community college governing boards to adopt policies that ensure students have access to textbooks and supplemental materials needed on the first day of class. The regulation specifically identifies adopting or adapting OER as one practice that can provide first-day access to zero-cost resources.^[2]

The California Community Colleges Board of Governors has also committed to reducing and ultimately eliminating instructional material costs and the financial, administrative, and other burdens students experience when obtaining required materials before a term begins.^[3]

Reducing barriers to instructional materials is not a fringe movement. It is part of a larger effort to rethink how students access the materials they need to learn.

What Does the Research Say About OER and Students?

Research on OER has moved beyond simply asking whether students save money. A large Achieving the Dream initiative involving 38 community colleges found that students who took multiple OER courses earned more credits while maintaining similar cumulative GPAs to other students. Across the initiative, students saved at least $10.7 million in instructional material costs.^[4]

More recent research continues to examine the relationship between OER and student success. A 2026 study of 20 undergraduate courses, for example, found an association between the use of OER textbooks and improved academic performance, including particularly promising findings for first-generation students.^[5]

In 2026, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) identified OER as a new high-impact practice following a large-scale study of OER implementation and student success.^[6]

None of this means that simply replacing a commercial textbook with an OER will automatically improve student learning. The resource still needs to be accurate, accessible, relevant, and intentionally integrated into the course. That is where your expertise as an instructor matters.

How OER Can Support Your Teaching Practice

Affordability and student access may be what first brings you to OER. Greater control over your learning materials may be what makes you want to stay.

Publishers create materials for broad audiences. You know your course, your discipline, and your students. OER gives you greater freedom to make your learning materials serve the course you are actually teaching.

Take Back Control of Your Learning Materials

Depending on the open license, OER allows you to take greater control over your learning materials. You can:

• correct an error when you find it;
• add new and current information as your field changes;
• replace examples that are outdated or no longer relevant;
• remove content your students do not need;
• reorganize material to match the sequence of your course;
• combine strong materials from multiple sources;
• revise explanations based on what you learn from teaching your students; and
• control when a new version is needed rather than having a publisher make that decision for you.

You no longer have to wait for the next edition to correct an error or add something important. You also do not have to redesign your course because a publisher released a new edition, changed a chapter sequence, discontinued a resource, or moved content into a different platform.

OER Gives You More Ways to Build What Your Course Needs

Choosing OER does not necessarily mean finding one open textbook and replacing your commercial textbook with it. It also does not mean writing an entire textbook yourself.

Open licensing creates more possibilities. You might find an OER that already works well for your course, adapt one to better fit your students, combine materials created by several educators, incorporate materials you have created, or develop something new where a gap remains.

This changes the question from “Which textbook should I build my course around?” to “What learning materials will best support the course I want to teach?”

What About the PowerPoints, Test Banks, and Other Publisher Resources?

A commercial textbook often comes with more than the book. PowerPoints, test banks, activities, instructor resources, and prebuilt course materials can all be important considerations when deciding whether to move away from a publisher.

Choosing OER does not make those needs disappear. It does, however, give you the opportunity to build supporting materials around your course and your learning resource rather than relying entirely on a publisher’s package.

When you are ready, How Do I Turn My OER Into a Complete Learning Experience? will help you think about the supporting materials, activities, assessments, interactions, and other elements that surround the OER.

Where Would You Like to Go Next?

You do not need to read this guide from beginning to end. Use it based on what you are trying to accomplish.