OER Knowledge CloudJournal ArticleOpening up to OERs: Electronic original sourcebook versus traditional textbook in the introduction to American Government CourseOpening up to OERs: Electronic original sourcebook versus traditional textbook in the introduction to American Government CourseBrandle, Shawna M.Traditional American Government textbooks are expensive and often unpopular with students. New technologies and Open Educational Resources (OERs) open up the potential for change, but questions of quality are ever present: can OERs really help students learn better, or are they just cheaper? I developed an OER based on original sources and compared student learning outcomes with the OER section to those in a free digital textbook section. While the OER I created did not work as well as I had hoped, I nonetheless developed a redesign of my course and my approach to teaching, which is the true benefit of adopting OERs.20182018/02RoutledgeJournal of Political Science Education144535-554United States10.1080/15512169.2017.1420482yesOEROpen Educational Resourcespolitical science educationteaching American governmenttextbookUnited States, North America