Does my use of an OER impact the Campus Store?
Answer
This information is for faculty at RDP.
Faculty have always had the freedom to select learning resources that best meet the learning outcomes of their course and the needs of their students; these may be textbooks (open or otherwise) or other resources like videos or articles. For many current courses, students are not required to purchase a textbook. There is no requirement for instructors to assign a particular textbook to students.
At Red Deer Polytechnic, the Campus Store has the exclusive right to sell textbooks; OER are not sold and therefore not contravening the contract. Follett is supportive of OER overall, and they recently partnered with Lumen Learning on an OER initiative: Follett and Lumen Learning to Expand Adoption of OER Courseware.
As well, the National Association of College Stores (NACS), to which Follett belongs, “supports the expansion of research, development, use, and evaluation of Open Educational Resources (OER), including open access course materials that may be combined with, or supplement, copyrighted course materials."
As OER use and awareness grows, RDP’s OER advocacy group will include the Campus Store in its OER strategy.
Further Resources
Working With Bookstores | OER Overview & Userguide
Outsourcing the Campus Store: Enhances Students’ Potential for Success and Maximizes Campus Resources (A Follett White Paper)
