When I read chapter 1 of A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students, I noticed authors point out the connection between expenses and student learning, “ 67% of college students in Florida and 54% of those in British Columbia[14] cannot afford to purchase at least one of their required course textbooks”, this data shocked me, I never think these small expenses are so powerful that may decide if a student can get his/her degree successfully. Personally, this reminds me of the first time I studied in UVIC, I looked at the price of my required course’s textbook, it was 110 CAD or something near, and it was just a digital edition book, as international student, I thought I already be used to with these expensive fees(flight, course fees and rent), but when I was required to buy a 100 dollar textbook, I really thought that was way to expensive, therefore when everytime I was told the course did not need to buy any textbook or website account, I was really glad to hear that. For students who can not afford the textbook, I can imagine their situation, they have to buy the textbook from last term’s students or share with others, but no matter which way they choose, this thing will become the obstacles on their path to graduation or even pass the course. That’s why OERs are important for students, they can save their money on other stuff, and avoid to have psychological pressure from can not afford to buy the textbook.

I think for both high level education and other education using OERs is a great way to improve students’ learning, and teachers can also tell students education should be fearless and creative, using OERs can cover more stuff besides textbooks, students can revise open content to use as their textbook, one example from myself is I found my high school calculus 12 note is very effective for me to study 100 and 200 level math courses in UVIC. If I were not forced to purchase the textbook I would just revise my note or even I could find other students who have similar idea with me to revise our notes into a better one. That would be very helpful and cheap. And if we were using OER in these math courses, I could also remix them with my notes so I can use these resources in future learnings, that can save me plenty of time to review math theories and money to buy new textbooks. Using OER helps students to learn with more perspectives and open their minds.