Traditionally at Alexander College, the bookstore would purchase physical textbooks and have them available for students to purchase and the library would have one copy of each text on reserve for students to borrow. This is a system used by many post-secondary organizations. This system can no longer be implemented for all students, due to the virtual environment of many courses and the potential for prolonged timelines over which students may need to study from their home countries or be expected to complete at least some of their classes virtually. The pandemic has also created an environment where distance, asynchronous and virtual education will likely be offered with much higher frequency, even at such a time when students are able to be physically back on campus. Private institutions will need to be able to pivot to meet the needs of this changed student demographic, which will involve providing alternative (accessible) textbooks options for students (as seen in the public sector). This presentation will examine the benefits of adopting OER, using the experiences of the staff and faculty at Alexander College as a case study.
