A recent study showed that two-thirds of students surveyed did not purchase their assigned course material due to cost (U.S. PIRG, 2021). Open educational resource implementation and related efforts for increasing the availability and use of no- or low-cost materials have been on the rise to address these issues.
NIU Libraries and the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) have partnered to progress efforts to address course material affordability. The following information describes efforts at other campuses.
Several states, including California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington have legislation requiring educational institutions to label courses that use no-cost materials and/or OER in their course schedules and registration systems (Lieberman, 2017). Some institutions offer “z-degree” programs and “z-courses,” that have no course material costs due to the use of free resources and/or OER.
For case studies, resources, and best practices on labeling no- low- materials courses, see:
Lieberman, M. (2017, December 6). OER and Affordable-Textbook Labeling Gains Ground. Inside Higher Ed.
The City University of New York course search is one example of a PeopleSoft student information system that incorporates a zero textbook cost course attribute for identifying and searching for courses with zero textbook costs.
SPARC. (2021, October 27). OER Policy State-by-State.
University of Illinois Systen/CARLI Awarded $1 Million Open Textbook Pilot Grant
Bliss, T.J. (2015). Z as in zero: Increasing college access and success through zero-textbook-cost degrees. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources. CCCOER: The Zero Textbook Degree
Finding and Accessing Content for Courses: Free, Open, and Affordable Resources. University Libraries, NIU
Phone: 815-753-0595
Email: citl@niu.edu
Phone: 815-753-1995
Email: lib-admin@niu.edu