University of Missouri launches system-wide initiative to adopt affordable educational resources

University of Missouri System

University of Missouri launches system-wide initiative to adopt affordable and open educational resources




June 21, 2017
Effort will reduce the costs of textbooks for students and enhance learning 

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Today, University of Missouri System President Mun Choi and Chancellors Leo Morton, Tom George, Garnett Stokes and Christopher Maples announced a plan that will save students significant amounts of money on textbooks and other course materials. This effort is designed to reduce the cost of attendance and enhance learning for students. The plan takes advantage of Open Educational Resources (OER), or class materials that are free for students, and AutoAccess, which is a program that makes textbooks and class materials available online at a lower cost than traditional learning resources.

“High-quality, affordable education is central to our mission as the state’s public higher education institution,” Choi said. “By providing open-source and affordable textbooks, we are meeting the needs of our students by lowering their costs and increasing their access to the resources that will help them be successful on our campuses.” 

To accomplish this goal, a working group of faculty, staff and students, including a team of librarians, bookstore personnel and campus instructional design staff, will be formed to provide input from all four campuses. The group will work collaboratively to develop a system-wide strategy to increase awareness of affordable and open resources, incentivize the transition to those resources, and encourage University-created materials to be shared as open resources. This work will be done in conjunction with campus-specific working groups.

“Some students don’t purchase required textbooks because it’s too expensive; it ends up hurting their academic success,” said Nathan Willett, president of the Missouri Students Association. “Any time we can make textbooks or course materials more affordable, it’s a win for students, and the university is still able to provide the same high-quality education. I’m excited to ...

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