OER (Open Education Resources)

 Colleges are infamous for giving their students a long list of books that they must be for their course. I for one dread this with a passion. I believe that in these modern times where students are constantly on the move and can't afford to carry around twenty something books a day in their book bags. There should be a more modern way for college students to acquire books in a way that will not break their backs. I mean come on it is bad enough that these books already break our pockets. So instead of these heavy, hardcover, thick textbooks I propose that instead of this old fashion method we go paperless. This move can make the already hard life of the modern college student a little easier in some way. This change can bring about environmental changes, efficiency in access to books, and a step into the modern era.  This form of modernization is called Open Education Resources or OER for short. OER is not only limited to books. It is a way for students to get all the information they need in a digital format. This allow students twenty-four hour access to information. This is perfect for this modern era where everything is digital and every book can be accessed through kindles. There are a lot of schools that made the transition to OER such as prestigious universities like MIT. This allow students to get a code after they sign in and they can either download the book or view it online. This method shows that now in our time we have come to a point where we do not need a forest cut down in order to provide textbooks for an entire class. Also when you think about it in cost wise it cost on average $205.95 to make a textbook when it cost almost fifty to make an E book available. This saves money even in public schools that use this system. The downfall to this is the access to OER depends on the funding that schools get. Schools in low budget areas may not have the ability to get the digital material. I believe that digital is the way to go and that's why i fully support the use of OER in schools.