You’ve likely heard about Open Textbooks (OERs) and how they can save students money. But did you also know that OER can increase student engagement and retention? The 2022 Florida Student Survey found that 53% of the 13,000 students surveyed did not purchase a required textbook for a course due to its cost. Because of textbook costs, forty-three percent of students in the survey took fewer courses, and twenty-four percent of students surveyed reported dropping out of a course (Florida Virtual Campus 2022). Open Textbooks, OER, and open educational practices can increase societal equity (Pelletier et al., 2021), democratize teaching and learning (Wickline, 2013), foster culturally relevant, personalized educational experiences (Van Allen and Katz, 2020), and empower teachers and students alike (Pelletier et al., 2021)

This workshop will help you find high-quality, free-to-students, openly accessible resources for your class. This workshop will cover the basics of finding and identifying OERs in your discipline and discuss how educators can integrate these resources into their courses.  CSUSB educators, students, staff, and administrators are invited to learn how to start with OER.