OER and Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$)
Information on free and low-cost textbook and courseware options: what they are, how to find them, and programs to support their adoption.
Your AL$/OER Librarian
What are affordable course materials?
Affordable course materials can include:
- Open educational resources, or other free or low-cost textbooks
- Open courseware, or other free or low-cost learning resources and ancillary materials (test banks, homework, and so on)
- Books or articles licensed for use through the library
- Public domain materials
- Instructor-created materials
What are Open Educational Resources?
Open educational resources (OER) are learning materials such as textbooks, online homework, test banks, interactive modules and even entire courses that are freely available to be used, remixed, improved, and redistributed. They are often available under a Creative Commons license. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which has been supporting OER since 2002, defines them as "high-quality teaching, learning, and research materials that are free for people everywhere to use and repurpose."
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William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: OERGood overview information on OER from a key supporter.
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Creative Commons: OERCreative Commons, responsible for the licenses that facilitate the creation and adoption of open learning, talks about open education and OER!
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SPARC: The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources CoalitionSPARC is a global coalition committed to making Open the default for research and education. SPARC empowers people to solve big problems and make new discoveries through the adoption of policies and practices that advance Open Access, Open Data, and Open Education.
About the CSU AL$ initiative
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What is Affordable Learning Solutions?CSU's Affordable Learning Solutions provides advocacy, grants and resources to support the adoption of high-quality, affordable course materials.
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Assembly Bill 798, Chapter 633Textbook Affordability Act of 2015
AL$/OER Reports & Research
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Freeing the Textbook; Educational Resources in Higher Education 2018Babson Survey Research Group's most recent survey on OER in U.S. higher education. The 2017-2018 survey shows growth in faculty awareness of OER. Over 4,000 faculty and department chairpersons report almost 50% of faculty are aware of OER.
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Instructor and student experiences with open textbooks, from the California open online library for education (Cool4Ed)Journal of Computing in Higher Education
April 2017, Volume 29, Issue 1, pp 98–113. -
White Paper: OER Adoption Study: Using Open Educational Resources in the College Classroom (PDF)California OER Council Research Study (2016)