SAC Joins OpenStax Network to Provide Free and Flexible Textbook Use

The nationwide partnership promotes using open educational resources to provide students and educators an alternative to expensive textbooks and other costly materials.

San Antonio College is one of 12 schools chosen to participate in the 2020-2021 OpenStax Institutional Partnership Network. As a participant in the network’s first-year program SAC will work to build and execute a strategy that will encourage greater use of free, flexible textbooks among its faculty and students.

SAC was selected for this strategic partnership with OpenStax by demonstrating an eagerness to drive adoption of open educational resources (OER). Free to access and fully modifiable, OER provides students and educators with fair and flexible teaching and learning materials.

Participants in the OpenStax Institutional Partner Network’s first-year program will receive individualized consulting from OpenStax and join a cohort of colleges and universities advocating widespread use of OER at their schools. On average, the institutions who join as the network increase the number of students impacted by OER by 158 percent after completing the first year. To date, the program has resulted in more than $20 million of additional student savings from OER.

“SAC is committed to providing upward mobility and equity for our students and community. One path to doing this is lowering or, better yet, eliminating the costs of unnecessarily expensive textbooks,” said Sean Duffy, associate professor of history and SAC liaison with the network. “OpenStax has been a leader in this movement.”

Open educational resources, including the free, openly licensed textbooks offered by OpenStax, eliminate cost barriers for students and allow unrestricted, immediate access to learning materials, increasing the likelihood for students to complete their courses successfully. In addition to the immediate benefits to students, open educational resources are offered under a Creative Commons license, allowing instructors to modify textbooks to better serve their unique teaching and evolving student needs.

–SAC–