The goals and objectives of the Course Materials Affordability Task Force are as follows:
Goal 1: Reduce barriers to education and support student success by increasing the number of NIU courses that require only free or low-cost course materials. (aligns with university goals 2, 3 and 4)
Goal 2: Advocate among institutional and external stakeholders for course material affordability s an ongoing, shared responsibility that requires dedicated resources (aligns with university goals 1 and 6)
Objectives
- Increase student access to courses requiring only free and low-cost course materials
- Engage faculty as essential participants in course material affordability through their advocacy, adoption and creation of open educational resources
- Partner with other institutional and external stakeholders to advocate for course material affordability
Logic Model of Task Force Activities
Activities
- Identify 100 and 200 level courses as good candidates for OER
- Create a course search for students to find free or low-cost course materials
Outputs
- List potential free or low-cost courses
- Outreach plan to work with instructor of record (IOR) on curriculum innovation
- Tagged courses in MyNIU for easy search
- Instructional support for schedulers
Outcomes
- Increase courses/faculty ready for course material affordability innovation
- Simplified process to find and register for courses with free or low-cost materials
Activities
- Recruit and train faculty from all 7 colleges to Course Material Affordability Taskforce to be course material affordability advocates
- Provide and promote training and support for course material affordability curriculum innovation
- Create faculty incentives to commit to using and/or producing OER
Outputs
- Cross-functional task force membership
- Slide deck for department meetings
- LibGuides
- Schedule of workshops / programs
- Blog posts and NIU Today articles
- Discretionary budgets allocated to OER initiatives
- Grants and other funding sources available for OER initiatives
Outcomes
- Broad and diverse faculty input and support for course material affordability initiatives
- Increased advocacy for course material affordability
- Increased awareness of how OER adoption can support curriculum innovation
- Increased support for faculty adoption of OER use in their courses
Activities
- Respond accurately to Illinois Board of Higher Education request to report number of free and low-cost material courses
- Calculate OER savings year-over-year
Outputs
- Dashboard and/or reports on # of free and low-cost material courses
- Completion of IBHE inquiries
- Dashboard and/or report on cost savings to students
Outcomes
- Accurate reporting of courses with affordable materials
- Increased combined efforts of OER initiatives across Illinois
- Demonstrated value and commitment to reducing financial barriers for student