Open Educational Resources may cut textbook costs – The Daily Universe

"The Student Advisory Council works with BYU administration to represent the voice and sentiments of the BYU student body. The council currently has a team conducting a research project about the impact and effectiveness of Open Educational Resources (OER) on the price of textbooks for students.

OER are openly licensed documents and media which individuals can access online and in print. BYU mechanical engineering student Phillip Ng said these resources are freely accessible to both student and professors.

'Basically, if BYU professors could use OER in a classroom setting, students wouldn’t need to buy textbooks, cutting costs for students and allowing professors the ability to branch out from a textbook,' Ng said. 'Our purpose is to encourage professors to look into OER and see if it is an option for them to use.'

A survey was conducted by the OER project team for the Student Advisory Council in 2015. Six hundred twenty-three BYU juniors and seniors were asked about their feelings on textbook prices."