The Shield : Free textbooks often ignored

"Today, resources from 2,400 MIT courses can be accessed online. That is just one of many examples of free lecture materials posted online by college professors for other college professors and their students.

While similar online resources have been popular with secondary schools for some time, postsecondary institutions have only recently begun to explore them.

There is no shortage of college-level materials. This semester, business law students at USI are required to purchase a book available used through the campus store for $294. The OER commons online provides a comparable ebook for free.

Free online textbooks and study materials are not only easy to find and fit into students’ budgets, but they have been proven to be at least as effective in the classroom as traditional textbooks."