Dr. Teresa Eaton is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Prescott campus. She received both her M.S. and Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Florida State University. Dr. Eaton currently uses OER resources for her General Chemistry for Engineers class. She finds OER resources to be more inclusive for her students, but works to maintain her standard of academic rigor when employing these resources.

The average textbook price increases 12% with each new addition. Online open resource materials have come a long way. ChemLibre and OpenStax Chemistry are free alternatives to traditional chemistry textbooks. These resources are written and constantly updated by faculty at top institutions. Open educational resources may be worth looking into for your courses!

It is important for faculty to consider that not all students have the financial resources to buy expensive textbooks. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the cost of textbooks has increased 63% since I was an undergraduate in 2006. It may take a bit of extra work and creativity, but offering free or low cost textbooks to our students is an exercise in empathy. Nonetheless, when implementing open access materials it is essential to maintain academic rigor. Careful planning of supplementary materials and offering traditional textbooks on reserve in the library can help.

I adopted an open access textbook because I wanted to offer a more inclusive option for my students. Not only is the OpenStax chemistry textbook free, it has links to online videos and simulations that help solidify concepts for different learning styles. In addition, the textbook can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection. I also noticed students were not buying the textbook. It seemed silly for them to spend several hundred dollars on a book most of them would use for one semester. By offering a free online textbook, worksheets, and lecture videos my students have access to a variety of course content at no additional charge.