UPEI's student union is looking to hold the Island's PCs and Greens to their campaign promises of making learning resources — like online textbooks — more available to students.

"It would cut down costs for students. And as we know — on average, students pay around $700-$900 each year on textbooks," said student union president Emma Drake.

Open educational resources are essentially online textbooks, which can be published in text, audio or video form and are most importantly free for students to use.

Curbing costs

Both the Progressive Conservatives and the Green Party listed increasing the availability of open learning resources for university students on their election platforms.

There are already a number of open educational resources available to students at UPEI, Drake said, including one for the university's introductory course in psychology — one of the most popular courses on campus.

"Over the last two years that they've had it, it's saved students over $150,000. So you see the direct impact it can actually make in such a short period of time just by eliminating those initial costs for students," she said.

Drake says she looks forward to working with the Island's new minority government on making the campaign promise a reality for UPEI students.

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