The Douglas Students’ Union want to thank you so much for signing our Open Textbooks Now! post-card, between you and the other students who participated, we got over 1200 signatures this semester alone. But we need your help again!
As you may have noticed, students have started receiving their online course evaluations (we know you probably ignored that e-mail but hopefully you didn’t delete it!). We think this is a perfect opportunity to tell professors about the benefits of open education resources (like free, online, open textbooks!) and start saving students some real money!
In the online course evaluations, there is an ‘additional comments’ box at the end of the survey, we’ve included a couple different templates in this e-mail for you to copy and paste into that box! You can take a look at a few examples below, or you can use them as a guide to writing your own message, nice and simple!
We really hope you can help us out in this next step towards free, online, open textbooks!
Good luck on exams and enjoy your winter break,
Douglas Students’ Union
Please use the following examples as a guide to writing your own comments in the course evaluation or feel free to write your own comments and share your own story!
Bought New Textbook
I bought the assigned textbook for this class and it cost me $$$, this was the cost of the textbook new. I believe that the quality and content of this textbook could found in a more affordable source. Whether this be a course-pack priced at a much more affordable rate, or through an open educational resource. Open educational resources are open-sourced materials created by academics, they are customizable and often come with the same features as big-name textbooks such as test banks and slides. I hope you might look into open educational resources in the future in order to help support those students who cannot afford the textbook and remove that financial burden off of those that do end up buying the textbook, like me. Thank you for a great year!
Bought Used Textbook
I bought the assigned textbook for this class and it cost me $$$, this was the cost of the textbook used. I believe that the quality and content of this textbook could found in a more affordable source. Whether this be a course-pack priced at a much more affordable rate, or through an open educational resource. Open educational resources are open-sourced materials created by academics, they are customizable and often come with the same features as big-name textbooks such as test banks and slides. I hope you might look into open educational resources in the future in order to help support those students who cannot afford the textbook and remove that financial burden off of those that do end up buying the textbook, like me. Thank you for a great year!
Shared Textbook with Classmates
I bought the assigned textbook for this class and split the cost with a few other people, this meant we had to share the textbook amongst us. I believe that the quality and content of this textbook could found in a more affordable source. Whether this be a course-pack priced at a much more affordable rate, or through an open educational resource. Open educational resources are open-sourced materials created by academics, they are customizable and often come with the same features as big-name textbooks such as test banks and slides. I hope you might look into open educational resources in the future in order to help support those students who cannot afford the textbook and eliminate the complicated aspects that come with sharing a textbook with multiple other people. Thank you for a great year!
Didn’t Buy Textbook – Used Reserve in Library
Due to the cost, I did not purchase the required text for this class. Instead I opted to solely using the course reserve which can make studying for tests and completing homework quite difficult. I believe that the quality and content of this textbook could found in a more affordable source. Whether this be a course-pack priced at a much more affordable rate, or through an open educational resource. Open educational resources are open-sourced materials created by academics, they are customizable and often come with the same features as big-name textbooks such as test banks and slides. I hope you might look into open educational resources in the future in order to help support those students who cannot afford the textbook, like myself, and remove that financial burden off of those that do end up buying the textbook. Thank you for a great year!
Tried to Complete Course Without Buying Textbook or Use Reserve in Library
Due to the cost, I did not purchase the required text for this course. This has made studying for tests and completing homework quite difficult but I simply could not afford the textbook. I believe that the quality and content of this textbook could found in a more affordable source. Whether this be a course-pack priced at a much more affordable rate, or through an open educational resource. Open educational resources are open-sourced materials created by academics, they are customizable and often come with the same features as big-name textbooks such as test banks and slides. I hope you might look into open educational resources in the future (try contacting the library!) in order to help support those students who cannot afford the textbook, like myself, and remove that financial burden off of those that do end up buying the textbook. Thank you for a great year!