Open Educational Resources

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Some of the courses at Three Rivers Community College use Open Educational Resource (OER) materials. In courses in which the change would produce comparable student learning outcomes, published works may be replaced with materials that are available via the internet or form other free or low-cost sources. The net effect for students is that they save significantly on the cost of their text and materials; that their books and materials are available in the learning management system; AND that they have their books on the first day of classes. Faculty are able to determine more precisely the sections and segments of the text that is pertinent to their classes and their students. OER books and materials can usually be arranged to suit the class and often can be changed.

NOLO (NO-COST/LOW-COST) Courses

Three Rivers Community College offers classes that have the No-Cost Low-Cost designation. Classes with this designation carry the standard tuition and fee costs but will have a combined book and materials cost of $40 or less.

Included are textbooks and other text-based materials, workbooks, online homework platforms, and codes or publisher-provided curricular materials for students.

Excluded are equipment (such as art supplies, calculators, or physical lab materials as well as lab manuals) and fees for test proctoring. Optional costs are also excluded, e.g. free online materials with the option to purchase printed versions if the student desires.

 

FINDING OER RESOURCES

Several resource links are provided on this page in the Faculty Resources above. When searching, keep in mind that OER materials are not just textbooks but rather could include OER journals, digital media, and courseware.

FINDING OER FACULTY COLLABORATORS

CSCU faculty can find others who may be willing to work together to produce or review OER materials and adapt them for use in their disciplines. The CSCU OER Library Network page has a faculty search feature. Choose the subject below.

MINI-GRANT OPPORTUNITY

Annually, usually in spring, the CSCU System via the OER Advisory Council awards a $1000 mini-grant to support colleges in adopting OER resources. Eligibility, participation, submission, and evaluation requirements are provided each year when the mini-grant becomes available.

Categories
1. Adoption – Adopt an existing open textbook or open course content with little to no changes made to the content.
2. Maintenance – Update currently adopted OER that requires minor editing for currency, relevance, or accessibility, without major changes to the content or structure.
3. Supplemental – Develop missing ancillaries for currently adopted OER such as quiz question banks, lecture slides, or lab manuals.
4. Scaling – Expand the use of a currently adopted OER across multiple sections of a similar course for which high-quality OER content already exists.