At the MSU Library, we recognize both the importance of achieving your higher education goals and the financial cost that comes with those goals. We also believe in and support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that, “higher education shall be equally accessible to all”. The cost of education is a barrier to equal access, and we are committed to continued efforts to provide the resources the members of our campus community require for all of their learning needs in the most fiscally responsible manner.
In our collections, we continually assess the value of each resource, work to negotiate for the best resources and rates, as well as to ensure that we are providing what our students need to be successful. All of our resources are there to make access to higher education for our entire learning community equitable and affordable.
An important part of this work is our Open Education initiative.
Open education is a commitment to equal education for all by producing and curating teaching and learning materials, like textbooks, that can be shared and used for free! Open education is a field of education that works to address:
Faculty using OER in their classrooms are already bridging equity gaps, making learning more affordable and accessible. With open licensed materials, faculty can adapt their courses to be more diverse, the content more inclusive and reflective of their students and the multicultural world they live in, and customize them with a discipline or degree specific focus. The potential to truly impact the student success, engagement, and quality of learning with OER is limitless. Research consistently demonstrates improved student success rates in courses that utilize open educational resources over traditional course materials.
Open education is a community of faculty, students, and institutions that are all working to address all of this. The MSU Library is a proud member of national and international organizations to connect and support our faculty and students with the resources they need.
Open educational resources (OER) are materials that have been published under an open license to allow teaching and learning to happen without cost barriers.
The Basics of OER:
Unless otherwise noted the content on this LibGuide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.