This document summarizes a presentation about affordable textbooks and open educational resources (OER) at the University of Connecticut. It defines OER as educational materials that can be freely used and modified. The presentation traces UConn's efforts to promote OER through student activism and an affordable textbook initiative. It notes rising textbook costs as a problem and discusses OER as an alternative, including open textbooks and adapting existing open content. The presentation provides examples of OER adaptations and directs attendees to UConn library guides on finding OER. It concludes by thanking OER leaders for sharing and providing presenter contact information.

1. Affordable Textbooks:
OER and cc by 4.0
…to start with.
Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015
Presenters:
Kathy Labadorf and Carolyn Mills, University Libraries

2. OER Defined
"Open educational resources are teaching, learning, and
research resources that reside in the public domain or have been
released under an intellectual property license that permits their
free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources
include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks,
streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials,
or techniques used to support access to knowledge".
Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015
Source: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

3. The UCONN story so far
 Student activism
 USG
 UConnPIRG
 Sally Reis
 Affordable Textbook Initiative : Campus-wide representation
Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015

4. The Problem
Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015

5. Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015
https://www.aei.org/publication/the-new-era-of-the-400-college-textbook-which-is-part-of-the-unsustainable-higher-education-bubble/

6. Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015

7. Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015
Plus 30%
over the next
4 years?
$15628
Image source: http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/pr/leaders-150309.php

8. Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

15. So, what are the alternatives?
…there are many! We’ll look at open textbooks first.
Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015

16. Assuming that you adapt the open content you find online, what kind of changes
might you want to make? The following list has been reworked from Why remix an
Open Educational Resource? written by Liam Green-Hughes under a CC BY license.
• Mix OER with your own material to make something richer
• Adapt the material to make it more accessible for people with different disabilities
• Insert culture-specific references to make a concept easier to understand
• Translate it into another language
• Correct any errors or inaccuracies
• Insert more media or links to other resources
• Chop it up into smaller chunks that might be easier to learn from, or could be reused elsewhere
• Change the target educational level
• Change the format to make it work in different learning environments
• Insert a different point of view to that originally given in the material
• Adapt it for a different audience
Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

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of Connecticut. December 2,2015

20. Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015
UConn Libraries Guide to Affordable &
Open Educational Resources
http://s.uconn.edu/oer
or
http://classguides.lib.uconn.edu/oer

21. Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015
Education is sharing

22.  Thanks to these OER leaders for sharing their presentations (cc by).
 Nicole Allen, Director of Open Education for SPARC
 David Ernst, Director of the Center for Open Education and Executive Director
of the Open Textbook Network (OTN)
 David Wiley, Co-Founder and Chief Academic Officer of Lumen Learning
Institute for Teaching and Learning Lunchtime Seminars, University
of Connecticut. December 2,2015
Contact:
Kathy Labadorf
Kathy@uconn.edu
860-486-1253
Twitter:@klabadorf
Carolyn Mills
Carolyn.Mills@uconn.edu
860-486-1263