Officials at Mid Michigan College expand access to open educational resources, providing significant cost savings to students
Open educational resources reduce costs for students by eliminating the need to purchase costly textbooks. Mid Michigan College is incorporating these learning resources into more courses every year and has created an entire degree program that will require zero textbooks to complete.
When Mid Michigan College began the effort to utilize open education resources (OER) in 2016, it was a move supported by many faculty members. By the Fall 2020 semester, there were 135 courses which utilized the no-cost learning materials and the college is including over 100 courses in the Winter 2021 semester which will no longer require expensive textbooks. MMC has also announced a new degree path, Liberal Studies Transfer Z-Degree, which will allow students to attain their associate degree with no textbook costs by using OER.
Since the introduction of courses utilizing OER, administrators estimate that students have saved over $1.6 million in textbooks. In a recent announcement of the expansion of courses available that employ OER, Marisa Wier, Associate Dean of Online and Distance Learning at Mid Michigan College explained the benefits, "OER is free to students, allowing them to focus on what is most important, their education. Students really appreciate that we understand the importance of keeping costs down. They can spend the money they would use for textbooks on more important things." OER can include written text, videos, and even full courses that exist in the public domain.
The recent announcement also provides some details about a new degree program at MMC that promises a path to an associate degree in which all course materials are provided through open educational resources, meaning that students can earn their degree without incurring any costs for textbooks. The Liberal Studies Transfer Z-Degree is the first degree program that fits the model but administrators plan to offer more in the future. The Liberal Studies degree includes an array of courses that transfer easily to four-year institutions where students can pursue a bachelor degree in academic areas such as philosophy, economics, English, and more.