"When I began the course design for HUM 2283: Film Genre: Horror, I knew I wanted to incorporate an OER textbook to supplement the class. Moving Pictures: An Introduction to Cinema by Russell Sharman provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of cinema. In addition to the text and full-color images, each chapter includes embedded videos to illustrate the cinematic techniques discussed. The primary focus of the course is film analysis and the genre of horror, so this basic OER is an excellent supplement to the more detailed class lectures and discussions. The students love the OER resources included in the course."
"As we began building the Film Genre course for sci-fi and fantasy, my thoughts first turned to OER to save students money. I couldn't find a specific OER textbook on the topic, but the 'remix' option from OSRHE inspired me to pick and choose from multiple sources. I built a textbook combing film analysis from one source and literature analysis of science fiction and fantasy from another. The combination served students well by giving not only background for what we needed to see in the films as evidence but also what themes fit through the films. With student feedback, we can even revise the required readings to better suit the course, trimming what might not be as useful and potentially adding sources for further discussion."
"I use OER in my Survey Lit courses. The textbooks are all available through a OER Textbook Library. I have found that the students tend to enjoy the digital textbook (in Lit they can get pretty hefty) and the fact that it’s free seems to get things off on the right foot. "
Jacob Nelson, Professor of English
Arts, English and Humanities
"I adopted the Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook called Technical Writing by Annemarie Hamlin and Chris Rubio in the Spring 2019 semester. The old textbook cost over $150.00 for a brand new print copy. Students now have a textbook that is free, adaptable to various electronic devices, printable as a book, and is accessible via hyperlinks in the Technical Writing course on Moodle. Any course content updates or new material added by the OER publisher is immediately accessible to students. Enrollment in Technical Writing has more doubled within the past year. I believe using an OER textbook contributed greatly to this growth."
Dana Passek, Professor of English
Arts, English, and Humanities
"We felt compelled to help students with the cost of textbooks. Students can read and navigate through the book on their smart phone or computer and 78% of students have reported wanting this option. Since it is available online, students have access to the book the first day without problems or a need to wait on their financial aid. The text is available in a PDF format and can easily be added to our Moodle sections. It is a quality textbook with great graphics and it is written by history professors and has been vetted. For my Oklahoma History class, I do not require a textbook but utilize internet resources, mainly The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture."
Leslie Jones, Professor of History
Social Sciences