Free e-textbooks every student can access and afford - Myra Salcedo, Mesa Journal News

Enter Open Educational Resources (OER) and open textbooks, key online sources for free textbooks for students. As a faculty member, I would like to be paid for my work. However, if I can save even one student from dropping out of class due to the lack of affording a textbook, I will create that textbook, uncompensated. This is because I am a first-generation graduate. I left home at the age of sixteen when my family wanted me to work in retail rather than going to college. I made it. Now, I need to pay it forward. This does not mean that I will not write books for publication or compensation. It means that those books will not be textbooks. Equal education for everyone means affordable education. I am preparing to develop a free textbook, which I have been told is an arduous process. If it does not take away from my current classes, then I am ready. Some student organizations (at other universities) are offering stipends to teachers who write textbooks. https://mesajournalnews.com/5976/showcase/free-e-textbooks-every-student-can-access-and-afford/