As the landscape of higher education evolves, 2-year colleges (2YC) and 4-year colleges (4YC) are increasingly turning to Open Educational Resources (OERs) to expand access, reduce costs, and enhance learning outcomes. These freely available, high-quality educational materials empower instructors to customize content, incorporate the latest research, and adopt more inclusive teaching strategies without the constraints of traditional print textbooks.
OERs are especially powerful for educators due to their flexibility and ability to be shared with students and colleagues without restrictions. The core freedoms of OER are defined by the 5 R's: retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute (Wiley, D., T.J. Bliss, and M. McEwen, 2014). An OER is not static like a traditional textbook; rather, a professor can reorder, modify it to fit their course, combine it with other content, and share the results freely. This flexibility supports pedagogical innovation, enables more accessible teaching, and reduces dependency on costly, restrictive commercial textbooks.
However, OERs also come with some weaknesses. First, they tend to vary in quality due to the lack of peer review. Also, they are inconsistently updated and may be abandoned if an author retires or otherwise loses interest.
The AMS education team is piloting a project to update its introductory oceanography textbook and release it under an open-access license in 2026. If successful, the same approach will be applied to the introductory meteorology and climate textbooks. A unique advantage of the AMS is its ability to support these textbooks with the organization's long-standing infrastructure and expertise. This commitment ensures the books will be routinely updated and maintained indefinitely, providing faculty with trusted, high-quality resources for decades to come.
By expanding its OER offerings, AMS empowers educators to teach with confidence and helps students access authoritative learning materials without barriers.