 For today's video, I'm going to provide some tips for college students who are interested in advocating for open educational resources or OER on their campus. But before I move on, I'll recap a little of what I covered last week. Open educational resources are openly licensed educational materials that are available online at no cost to users. That means that OER are free textbooks, free lecture videos, free lab books, and even free lesson plans and quizzes that your professors can use instead of expensive textbooks and access codes. They aren't just free to access. Because of their open licenses, many of these resources are also free to edit to make them really fit in with what a class covers. No more read chapters one, three, and seven. With OER, instructors can rearrange textbook chapters or cut out sections they don't cover in a given class. That can make the whole course experience better and more focused on what you need to learn. So why aren't instructors already using open educational resources in their classes? Well, there are a few reasons. Although work is being done to educate instructors on college campuses about the various resources available to them, the majority of instructors just don't know that OER exist. So don't blame your professors if they aren't using open textbooks right now. There's a fairly good chance that they just don't know they're out there. And there are plenty of other reasons faculty aren't using OER too. So if you'd like to understand their side of things a little better, check out my video on barriers to open education. So what can you do to help if there's so many different barriers to overcome? Well, you do have options, but you'll need some support. First, you'll want to raise awareness on campus. Get out there and talk about how the cost of textbooks is negatively impacting your grades, your livelihood, and your ability to continue on in your classes. Even if it's something small, like having to put off buying a textbook until your next paycheck comes in, sharing your story can help people understand that there's a problem. But don't just leave it there. While you're raising awareness about the cost of textbooks, provide examples of great open textbooks and other OER that professors can use instead. Remember, you're the ones trying to make change, so you've got to provide proof that there's a problem and you've got to provide a possible solution as well. Don't push that off or tell faculty they need to do all the work themselves. Point them to places where they can learn more about OER and share what open resources are and how they can be just as good as traditional textbooks. While you're talking on campus about the cost of textbooks and alternatives available, you'll probably meet some interested and engaged individuals who can support you in your cause. These individuals, students, and instructors alike are important. Listen to them, let them help, and use their voices to amplify your message. Getting faculty on your side is an important step for student groups on campus. You can share information about OER, but when it comes right down to it, faculty trust each other's opinions more than they trust your judgment when it comes to textbooks. After all, as students who pay for textbooks, you're coming from a biased perspective. Getting faculty allies to talk to their peers for you can really help your case. Finally, once you've spread the word about open textbooks on campus and gained support of students and faculty alike, the people you'll really need to talk to are the ones in charge, the administration. Talk to them about supporting instructors who use OER and explain why these issues matter to you. By this point, you should have some good data and anecdotes to support your cause, so use them. But remember while you're speaking up that you need to fight for something. You can get your administration to understand why you care, but then what? Give them something to invest in, a program, an initiative joining a national network supporting OER. But make sure that whatever you do, you're making a good case for why it matters to you, the other students in your college, and the faculty as well. And remember, you can always find allies if you're willing to listen and reach out to other groups on campus, like your library. Thanks for watching my video. Feel free to visit our library guide on open educational resources if you'd like to find some more information about OER and check out our other links in the description for student groups you can contact about organizing an OER initiative on your own campus.