In the past, using physical textbooks is the only and traditional way of distributing knowledge and materials. In fact, the cost of textbooks has increased by over 1000% in the last 40 years (Morris & Stommel, 2018). However, there are various methods to do it in order to counter the dramatic cost of textbooks nowadays. In my opinion, the price of textbooks may not go down since the copyright and publish costs are always there. In this case, lowering the costs involves influencing the profit of giant publishers; therefore, open educational resources (OER) may be the potential solution of textbooks costs.

    It is complicated to say either using physical textbooks is better or OER. For physical textbooks, it is costly, but there is no limit and more flexible. For open educational resources, they are freely accessible, openly licensed text, media, and other digital assets that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes (Wikipedia, 2019). From saving perspective, it is wise to use OER, but there are also limits on materials by using OER. There are only partial materials which are freely accessible, and that is unfair for some students. Although they pay less, the information they are able to retrieve is restricted as well. 

    Even though OER is not a perfect substitution of physical textbooks, definitely, it is an efficient nonconventional alternative. No matter what is the method of distribution, the ultimate goal is to motivate students in studying. Indeed, technologies significantly allow students to access to external resources. Meanwhile, OER is also a place to share ideas and create knowledge, hence, OER makes all information more precise since people can discuss and adjust the information.

    Another advantage of OER is that the way of distributing knowledge is more creative and effective. Various technologies are helpful for motivating students visually and conceptually. Using OER leads students to build their perception of knowledge under the instructor’s guidance, but not only consuming the knowledge. By using textbooks, teachers tend to just conduct lectures according to the textbooks. By using OER, it focuses more on inspiring students instead of simply teaching.

    It is hard to determine how feasible to shift physical books to freely available open educational resources. Personally speaking, the current situation will not change dramatically until one party makes outstanding changes.

Reference:

Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital pedagogy. United States: Hybrid Pedagogy.