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Affordable & Open Educational Resources

Resources and services for Brandeis faculty who are interested in using Affordable and Open Educational Resources.

Addressing the High Costs of Textbooks and Learning Materials

Between 2006 and 2016, the price of college textbooks increased 88%.1 The rising costs of course materials can negatively impact student success. A 2013 study of over 2,000 college students found that 65% of respondents had resorted to not purchasing a required textbook due to price, and in some places, spent $1,200 a year on learning materials.2 Consider ways you can reduce costs for your students:

  • Explore Open Educational Resources (OER): OER are learning resources such as articles, books, audio recordings, images, video, software and digital tools that one is licensed to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. Instructors can reuse OER, as well as edit and augment these materials, in developing course content for students. Please continue reading for examples of OER.
  • Work with Your Librarian: Your librarian can work with you to identify ways to reduce the expense of course materials for your students through the use of OER, multi-user e-books, and materials available through the Library. Contact your librarian to discuss options for your teaching.
  • Request Course Reserves: Faculty can set aside books, videos and other materials as Courses Reserves at the Library for their students. More information.

Suggested Resources for Identifying Open Courses Materials

We will continue to add resources to this list.

Materials Available Through Library Subscriptions & Collections

The library subscribes to several hundred databases which contain a wide range of sources, including eBooks, articles, music, digitized primary sources, and images.

Most of our licenses allow you to include links to database sources in Moodle.

In addition to ebooks and articles, library resources include image databases, streaming video collections, and other non-textual resources which can be incorporated into course materials.

Please contact your department's library liaison with any questions about library materials for your course.

Case Studies

Case Studies Available Through Library Databases

Freely Available Case Studies 

While freely available, licenses on the case studies available through the following resources vary. 

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “College Tuition and Fees Increase 63 Percent since January 2006,” 2016. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/college-tuition-and-fees-increase-63-percent-since-january-2006.htm.

U.S. PIRG, “Fixing the Broken Textbook Market,” 2014. https://uspirg.org/reports/usp/fixing-broken-textbook-market.