CUNY OneSearch

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/OER_Logo_Open_Educational_Resources.png/296px-OER_Logo_Open_Educational_Resources.pngFor many students at CUNY, the cost of textbooks can be prohibitively expensive. Since nearly forty percent of CUNY’s students come from households with annual incomes of less than $20,000, spending an average of $1,200 per year on books and other supplies is too often an insurmountable barrier to academic success. In many cases, students choose not to register for courses that require expensive textbooks, or they end up withdrawing or failing courses because they cannot afford the materials. These patterns can lead to an increase in the number of years students spend in college, thereby reducing the likelihood of completing a degree. One way to reduce textbook costs is by offering courses that use free and online Open Educational Resources (OERs). These instructional materials can be used, reused, and often remixed and customized under an intellectual property license that permits their free use while ensuring authors retain copyright to their work.

Since FY18 CUNY has been awarded $4,000,000 per year from New York State to establish, sustain, and enhance new and ongoing OER initiatives throughout CUNY. This funding has resulted in large-scale course conversions throughout the university. This initiative engages faculty in the redesign of courses through the replacement of proprietary textbooks with open educational resources. The short-term goal has been to reduce costs for students and accelerate their progress through college, but an important secondary impact is the culture change to create systems and structures that better connects curriculum and pedagogy to updated student learning outcomes. Of particular interest are proposals that target high enrollment general education classes or “Z” degrees (entire OER Zero Cost Degree pathways).

The Office of Academic Affairs funds a number of grants to the colleges to implement course conversion to Open Educational Resources. This funding’s purpose is to develop, enhance and institutionalize new and ongoing OER initiatives across CUNY. Our goal is the establishment of CUNY as a national leader in OER.

  • If you’d like to participate in OER activities at your campus, contact your OER Campus representatives.
  • If you’d like to discover OER materials and activities at various campuses, go to our list of OER by CUNY.

Citation: [CUNY Media] (2018, May 18) OER – Zero Textbook Cost Courses [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/NtJmakm1-zc