But study after study, article after article, presentation after presentation hammers home the reality that food and insecurity and homelessness are two major issues affecting our students. Click the image to read a 2019 article on food insecurity.
However, $32 to someone who is struggling with food or housing insecurity is $32 that could be used elsewhere. So, I have decided to beta test going 100% OER in all of my courses through both summer sessions. US History to 1877, US History since 1877, Mexican American History to 1900, and Mexican American History since 1900. I found identifying sufficient scholarship for the first part of Mexican American history to be particularly challenging.
Towards the end of the this (Spring 2019) semester, one of students who had been struggling with housing issues (I introduced him to the Dean of Student Services earlier in the semester) launched a GoFundMe site in order to collect enough money so that he would not have to live in his car. He is an example of someone who needs $32 for other things besides a book that I probably can recreate with some time and thought. I already have collected the articles, essays and documents. All I need to do now is to write introductions to each. That is one of my summertime projects. Therefore, by this Fall I will have my own OER anthology. This was a project I had wanted to do. This homeless student of mine was the impetus to finally do it. Click the image to read a report on homelessness among college students.
$32 is not much, but its a start. If I can save every student $32 maybe I can get my colleagues to do the same. OER is spreading like wildfire across college and university campuses. It's about time that others adopt this method for a variety of reasons to include helping those who have to deal with food insecurity and possible homelessness.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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