Ask A Neuroscientist🧠🐁
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Monday 07 September 2026 19:51:00 GMT
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saidthepoets :
As a university librarian I am genuinely stunned that more professors don’t collaborate with me to find open educational resources for their classes. I offer yearly and no one takes me up on it. It’s what I’m there for! I also get a lot of students grumbling about their $300 textbooks hoping that the library has them, but I usually can’t purchase an ebook or physical copy of those due to licensing issues.
2026-09-07 20:44:06
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Inna Kanevsky, Ph. D. :
FYI, when you contribute to a textbook, there is often a contractual obligation to assign it. I did not, though.
2026-09-07 20:52:52
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youredamwrite :
I also think there is a huge difference between university professors who have 2-4 classes and state or community college professors who teach 5-7 classes when we consider the time it takes to maintain an OER.
2026-09-07 20:38:21
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Wade :
I definitely have some students who seem to prefer a paid textbook because they seem to feel if the instructor is working out of a paid textbook the book is an "all in one" solution - that if you then just study that textbook and do the exercises in it you should be good to pass the class without attending any lectures or doing any other readings. They kind of get nervous when there isn't one main paid textbook because then there might be multiple things they have to pay attention to to pass.
2026-09-07 22:40:26
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existentialcrisis :
I do both and get comments on both sides of it.
2026-09-08 02:46:16
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David Merriam :
I love OER, but the amount of time I've had to invest into the materials is intense.
2026-09-08 13:09:38
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SynFennex :
I have been so displeased with the selection of OER that I am just writing my own texts. I'll save them money and eventually build all the extras they want.
2026-09-08 03:22:18
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Eddie Price :
Good points! I would often use open source texts when I had control over the design of my courses (when I was in temporary positions at liberal arts college) for the same reason you mentioned, but now I'm back at a large public university, and many of our lower level courses are coordinated over many different sections and instructors. For consistency among sections, decisions about textbooks, course policies, grading, etc., are decided by a course coordinator or even departmental committee. So that's another way that things like this can happen.
2026-09-08 01:37:50
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Elana :
Sometimes I literally don’t have a choice. I’m an early-career professor and basically every class I’ve taught (lots of coordinated intro courses), I haven’t had any choice in it. I HAVE to use specific homework systems, and specific books, and specific resources. If I could find something good enough that was free when I’m allowed, I absolutely will. But some of the best resources in my field are unfortunately paid or just things I’m required to use.
2026-09-08 03:55:54
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☠️ :
I teach psych courses at a private liberal arts college and I just didnt like the open source books for the courses I'm teaching. I would have to supplement it with a lot of additional readings when the textbooks I assign cost more money but are much more comprehensive. that said if I was teaching at a public university it'd be different. I think at many private colleges students expect to spend at least some money for each course
2026-09-07 22:03:55
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Unlucky Vanguard :
I think part of it could also be that they become easy points if you use the pay walled assignment and tests. the questions are repetitive and the answer banks are online
2026-09-07 22:24:40
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whatdidijustwatch555 :
I teach an A&P course where we ended up going with a publisher course because we could use some of the virtual labs in place of some things where we don't have the time or money to get certain pieces of equipment. we therefore use the same one for both semesters and in the lecture, too. Like we use the hell out of it so at least they get more bang for their buck. It's like $175 for 4 classes across the 2 semesters.
2026-09-07 23:47:53
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mriaooww :
I think that’s where assigned texts vs. recommended texts can be useful
2026-09-07 21:14:54
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