Enrollment is open for all students. Meet with academic advising to enroll.

TCC Partners with OpenStax to Promote Free Textbooks

Published

Jul 7, 2016

Topics

Tulsa Community College will participate in a strategic partnership with OpenStax to encourage use of free textbooks on campus. TCC is one of 11 schools selected for the Open Educational Resource Institutional Partnership Program for the 2016-2017 academic school year.

Open educational resources, including the free, peer-reviewed textbooks offered by OpenStax, eliminate cost barriers for students and allow every student immediate access to learning materials. OpenStax texts also meet standard scope and sequence requirements and are peer-reviewed by educators to ensure accuracy and ease of use.

“With the rising cost of textbooks and increasing financial burden placed on students, it is incumbent on higher education to engage in the exploration of open educational resources and provide cost-effective means for student access to quality learning materials,” said TCC President and CEO Leigh B. Goodson.

Students at TCC have already benefitted from OpenStax textbooks through the work of Professor Jennifer Kneafsey who is using OpenStax textbooks in her Biology classes. The partnership with OpenStax also supports TCC’s 2016-2020 Strategic Plan to address access to affordable, quality textbooks and course materials.

OpenStax textbooks are comparable to textbooks that cost $200 or more and are available for free online and in PDF, and are available at very low cost in print. TCC students could save an estimated $163,000 on textbooks for the upcoming academic year.

The Open Educational Resource Institutional Partnership Program provides TCC with free consultation as the College increases the use of open educational resources on each campus and works with a community of institutions dedicated to lowering the cost of course materials using OER.

OpenStax, a nonprofit based at Rice University, uses philanthropic grants to produce high-quality, peer-reviewed textbooks that are free online and low-cost in print. It launched in 2012 with the goal of publishing free textbooks for the nation’s 25 most-attended college courses and is on track to meet its goal of saving students $500 million by 2020.

Related News

All News

TCC Welcomes New Members to President’s Cabinet

Tulsa Community College welcomes Dr. Matthew Olsen as Chief Human Resources Officer and John Price as Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel to the President's Cabinet. Both leaders bring extensive experience and strategic insight to the College and support TCC’s mission of accessible, quality education for the Tulsa community.

TCC Hosts Inaugural Manufacturing Day

TCC hosted its first-ever Manufacturing Day at the Northeast Campus, bringing dozens of Tulsa Public Schools students together on Oct. 3 and 4. Over the course of two days, students engaged in hands-on activities giving them valuable exposure to the practical skills needed in engineering and manufacturing careers.

TCC One of First in Nation to Join FAA’s Enhanced Air Traffic Training Program

Tulsa Community College has signed an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to become one of the nation’s first schools in the Enhanced Air Traffic – Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI), part of a strategic effort to address the national shortage of air traffic controllers.