York College is one of 66 institutions selected to participate in the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) 2021-22 Institute on Open Educational Resources (OER). This new, yearlong institute is designed to support educators in launching, expanding, or hastening campus adoption of free and affordable instructional materials. The inaugural institute began with a two-day virtual kickoff event in July and will conclude with a capstone closing event in July 2022.

Open educational resources (OER) are educational materials, from single lessons to entire textbooks, that are often free for faculty and students to use, customize, and share. Using OER not only helps students save money, but it can also level the academic playing field. Additionally, using OER offers faculty more flexibility to provide their students with contextualized content, potentially helping students see personal relevancy in what they are learning.