{"id":918,"date":"2026-10-21T19:47:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T19:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/?p=918"},"modified":"2026-10-21T21:39:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T21:39:41","slug":"open-educational-resources-support-learning-at-tcus-new-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/?p=918","title":{"rendered":"Open Educational Resources Support Learning at TCUs, New Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2026 report, which includes data from Bay Mills Community College, identifies OER as a \u201chigh impact practice\u201d that can improve student success, especially at minority serving institutions.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Bay Mills Community College, located on the Bay Mills Indian Community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, participated in a study of OER. According to Development Director Kathy Adair, students appreciate both the cost savings and the convenience of having books immediately available. Photo courtesy of Bay Mills Community College.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Bowman Leigh<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of paying tuition, the cost of textbooks and supplies can add up for college students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Education Data Initiative<\/a>, the average student spends $340 per year on course materials, with 63% of students reporting that they cannot afford textbooks. Without these supplies, students\u2019 educational experience can suffer \u2014 leading to failing grades, or requiring students to work extra hours to cover the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ease the financial burden, more colleges and universities are utilizing open educational resources, also known as OER: free, digitally-available materials including textbooks, lectures and online classes, and multimedia learning tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior research on the impact of OER has been limited and inconclusive, but a new report<\/a> offers broader insight into how OER is affecting the student learning experience. The two-year study, compiled by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, looks at data from nearly 700,000 students across 15 institutions, including public and private universities, community colleges, tribal colleges, and historically Black colleges and universities, as well as feedback from more than 200 instructors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study found that implementing OER can improve student success and increase accessibility to course materials. In doing so, the report argues OER should be considered a \u201chigh impact practice,\u201d an AACU designation for a teaching or learning approach that provides meaningful educational benefits to students, particularly those from historically underserved populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bay Mills Community College, the first fully accredited, tribally controlled college in Michigan, participated in the AACU study. Development Director Kathy Adair, who also chairs the social science department, helped compile the BMCC data shared in the report. Adair teaches several social science classes and says her department \u2014 the third largest on campus \u2014 relies heavily on OER.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the department that uses the OERs more than anybody,\u201d Adair said on the phone. OER is also used in business, psychology, and history courses at BMCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the benefits of OER for students, Adair points to the value of keeping course materials accessible and affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur students constantly report that having the textbooks on day one is very beneficial to them. Not only that it\u2019s free, but they don\u2019t have to stress about getting behind because they don\u2019t have their textbooks in time,\u201d Adair said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating OER into her classes has enabled Adair to explore new multimedia avenues for instruction. For the past year and a half, she has converted her lectures \u2013 which are also available as Powerpoint slides \u2014 into podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Using podcasts] just helps drive the message home, I think, a little bit more,\u201d Adair said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With OER, students in Adair\u2019s classes can also read ahead and use search tools to easily find parts of online textbooks they want to review. Having quick access to course materials, Adair says, helps students succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the AACU report, the number of \u201cA\u201d grades increased across all educational contexts when OER was used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While use of OER is not widespread at BMCC, Adair wishes that it was. At the same time, she acknowledges that not all instructors are interested in adjusting their curriculums to include it. Over-reliance on OER tools can also impact the school\u2019s bookstore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Adair says BMCC is actively looking for places where OER can have an immediate benefit, such as replacing an expensive medical billing and coding textbook used in the school\u2019s new nursing program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely open to [OER], and it\u2019s just finding the right resource that\u2019s out there,\u201d Adair said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowman Leigh is a writer based in Missoula and a graduate of the University of Montana<\/em>\u2019<\/em>s School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in Mountain Journal, The Pulp and on Montana Public Radio, and she is a former fire reporting intern for Montana Free Press.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 report, which includes data from Bay Mills Community College, identifies OER as a \u201chigh impact practice\u201d that can improve student success, especially at minority serving institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Copy-of-BMCC-19.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=918"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":924,"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions\/924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcup-hub.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}