As I delve into the arena of Open Educational Resources, I am struck with two things. First, wow – how come I have not learned more about this before now? Second, it is about time this type of movement gained momentum as I have always wanted this to happen. In my educational journey of many years (35 this year), I have been in some very resource poor areas. In some schools I have worked in, the best I could come up with was sets of very out-of-date texts shared between two, and sometimes three, students. I got used to spending my own money on reproducible resources from teacher stores in nearby cities. I would have to applaud BC for taking these steps to provide free open resources for everyone to access. Certainly, post-secondary students (and their parents) can use a break from the over-inflated prices of textbooks. I wonder, though, how receptive universities and colleges are going to be when it comes to using these OER resources as their class text. I have three of my own children in post-secondary studies right now. The cost of textbooks is ridiculously prohibitive. Will this help? It seems that there is still a need for universities and colleges to use next edition texts for a class offered year after year. If they are not willing to at least use the same edition for five years in a row, what are the odds they will incorporate free resources for courses they offer? In a perfect world, this is a fantastic idea, but when it comes to making money, I will not hold my breath to see free and open resources take precedence. (wow am I ever cynical) Perhaps the Ministry would have much greater success by providing OER for K-12 education. Most school districts I have worked in over the last 10 years would like to move to digital eTexts if they are available. However, because these resources are licensed by a publisher, the digital versions, although cheaper, still cost a school or district annual fees. I think it would be great if schools had access to free digital print resources so that funds could be freed up to spend on other worthwhile necessities like math manipulatives, assistive technology, new Phys. Ed. Equipment and even a large gift for the principal. J I can’t really say yet where this OER movement will take us, but anything that can be provided for our children’s education for free is a good thing.