ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Alisha Raby Cefalo has helped other students save money on textbooks at North Shore Community College in Lynn.
BY GABE MARTINEZ
LYNN — Students at North Shore Community College have some extra money in their pockets thanks to a new program designed to eliminate textbook costs.
NSCC students have saved more than $39,000 through Open Educational Resources (OER), which are courses that do not require students to purchase textbooks.
Instead of purchasing a textbook, the program uses various sources, such as pages out of original textbooks, videos and audio recordings to help students learn at a reduced cost.
OER courses were established in 2013 with help from the school’s library staff. The college received an innovation grant that funded 10 teachers and as many OER courses.
Dava Davinis and Torrey Dukes played integral parts in helping teachers join the program.
“Academic technology had applied for grants, and with these grants, it gave teachers time to think ‘how can I make my classes more affordable for students,’” Davinis said.
She also said the academic technology department and the faculty work on making classes more affordable for students. The department also assists in gathering materials for a particular class.
Students spend an average of $600 on new textbooks for a semester, according to a survey done by Dukes. Nearly 70 percent of students said they did not buy a textbook for a class and 70 percent said the decision not to buy a textbook affected their grade.
“We have a classnote, so when students look in the (course) catalog — when they are online to search for classes — there’s a note that says ‘this class is low or no cost,’” Dukes said.
Dukes noted here has been positive feedback from teachers and students.
Teachers said that after joining OER, they were more involved with creating lesson plans and materials for their classes, according to Dukes.
While OER has helped eliminate the need for textbooks in some classes, other courses still require them. For those that do, one enterprising student at NSCC is helping her fellow students save money.
“I collected books and swapped with 30 students,” said Alisha Raby Cefalo, a student at NSCC. “At $150 a book, I saved students $4,500 in four days.”
Raby Cefalo, an NSCC student government senator, started the book swap last semester, and said she would like to see the book swap expand during the next semester.