March 4-8 was Open Education Week, a week when we celebrate the power of the Internet to democratize education by providing a platform on which tools for learning—everything from videos and class modules to lecture notes and entire textbooks or courses—can be made freely available to anyone wanting to learn.
In spite of the fact that we have the digital technology to provide learning materials at low to no cost and that many brilliant minds all over the world are engaged every day in creating materials to use in physical and virtual classrooms, we know that students are still required to spend a lot on textbooks, including homework software and online access codes every semester for their classes. This has made us question how much are students at TAMU-CC spending?
During Open Education Week, we were out in front of the library talking to people about—you guessed it—open education. So we asked, “What is the most that you have spent on textbooks in a single semester?” As you can see from the picture, numbers ranged from as low as $247 to over $1,000! Those are some pretty big numbers for just one semester!
So what about you? Where do your textbook costs fall on that spectrum? Are you interested in finding out what alternatives there might be? Contact Lisa Louis at lisa.louis@tamucc.edu for more information.
Lisa Louis, Department Head, Research & Learning
