This document summarizes an information session on open educational resources (OER) with a focus on OER textbooks. The session discussed the benefits of OER for increasing access and lowering costs for students. It provided examples of OER textbook programs like OpenStax College and Lumen Learning. It also outlined Sacred Heart University's emerging plan to increase OER adoption through faculty awareness, starting with a pilot program, and expanding the scope of adoption over time.

1. Information Session
by the Office of Digital Learning & Ryan Matura Library
Sacred Heart University, Connecticut
Presented at the Digital Pedagogy Summer Institute
May 20, 2016
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES,
FOCUS ON TEXTBOOKS: AN
INTRODUCTION
By Jaya Kannan, Zach Claybaugh & Chelsea Stone

2. •Why Open Educational Resources (OER) at SHU?
•Intro to OER with focus on OER Textbooks
•Potential Cost Savings to Students
•What’s Happening at SHU?
•OER Resources: OpenStax College & Lumen Learning
•Plan of Action
Overview of Today’s Session

3. Why Open Educational Resources (OER) at SHU?
As an institution, we are interested in exploring OER options
as a means to:
• alleviate student expenses
• increase pedagogical flexibility
• offer possible avenues for the university to take a
leadership role in OER production

4. •What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?
• “OER are educational materials produced by one party that are licensed to be used free of
charge by others. OER come in many forms—from curriculum to homework assignment to
textbooks. And OER exist for all levels of education, from kindergarten through college” (Wiley,
et al., 2012, p. 1).
•OER Textbooks
• “In brief, open textbooks are faculty-written, peer-reviewed textbooks that are published under
an open license – meaning that they are available free online, they are free to download, and
print copies are available at $10-40, or approximately the cost of printing” (Senack, 2015, p.
5).
• OER Textbooks provide a no-cost/low-cost solution to the growing problem of rising textbook
prices.
• Analysis by Senack posits that students in the U.S. would save $128.00 per course, by instructors
adopting an open textbook over a traditionally published text (2015, p. 5).
OER Textbooks – Introduction

5. Goals:
1. Increases access to and usage of textbooks in class
2. Lowers/eliminates textbook costs for students
3. Increases faculty control over instructional resources
4. Enhances pedagogical practices
Adoption of OER Textbooks

6. What we need to find out:
-Faculty awareness and use of
OER
-Faculty perceptions of OER
-Faculty willingness to participate
in OER initiatives
What’s Happening at SHU?
What we know:
-Sacred Heart University Library
has compiled a listing of OER
Textbooks available for use
by instructors in every
department across campus
-Some instructors, such as Steve
Michels from Politics &
Global Studies, already use
OER textbooks in their
courses

7. As part of the Third Open Government National Action Plan, the Obama Administration
emphasized the importance of OER:
(Open Government Partnership, 2015, p. 3)
OER – Federal Govt.

8. -As part of its #GoOpen campaign, the U.S. Department
of Education proposed a new regulation that requires
Department grant-funded intellectual material be made
available to the public through an open license (Press
Office, 2015).
-Additionally, 13 states have joined the #GoOpen
initiative. This initial cohort of states will develop
technological strategies that feature OER, develop OER
repositories, and jointly share resources and strategies
with one another (Zubrzycki, 2016).
OER – Federal Govt. (cont.)

9. What is OpenStax College?
 Non-profit publisher of OER Textbooks
 Hosted on Rice University’s Connexion Platform
 Supported by a number of philanthropic organizations, including
receiving major support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
 Includes a collection of 19 peer-reviewed, OER textbooks that
cover a range of introductory courses. OpenStax plans to have 21
total titles available by 2017 (OpenStax College, 2014).
 All textbooks are freely available online to all. Students can
download their free textbook on their electronic devices, or they
can purchase a print copy of the textbook through Amazon or the
university bookstore for around $50.00.
 Hundreds of institutions worldwide are using OpenStax textbooks:
https://openstaxcollege.org/pages/adoptions
 For more on OpenStax College, see: https://openstaxcollege.org/

10. What is Lumen Learning?
 Organization that assists institutions with
adoption of OER
 Offers complete, fully-customizable catalog of
courses in more than 60 subject areas that are
designed using OER
 Works directly through campus LMS for ready
access
 Compiles and analyzes course data to track
student success
 For more information on Lumen Learning, see:
http://lumenlearning.com/

11. UCONN Leading CT OER Textbook Charge
• University is leading an effort approved by the general assembly
• Efficiency of using open textbooks
• Reducing Student Cost
• “State Rep. Gregg Haddad (D-Mansfield) championed legislation creating a task force of faculty,
administrators, and students representing UConn, the Connecticut State University System, and the
Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, along with representation from the state Office of Higher
Education.”
• Grant of nearly $100,000 from the Davis Educational Foundation
• University Libraries involvement
• survey faculty about the use of open textbooks
• Create online workshops for faculty development adapt an existing general chemistry textbook
• Help raise awareness about open textbooks – first used last year
• Initiated by students in the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and UConn Public Interest
Research Group (UConnPIRG)

12. Emerging Plan of Action: 2016-2017
Awareness
Building
Involve Faculty
Leadership
Start with a
Pilot
Expand scope
of adoption
Create OER
texts in niche
areas

13. OER Adoption - Resources
OER Professional Services
-Lumen Learning: OER
Advisory Services and
Open Courseware Vendor
http://lumenlearning.com/
-ISKME: OER Professional
Development and Training
http://www.iskme.org/servi
ces/oer-support
OER Textbook Publishing
-OpenStax College
https://openstaxcollege.org/
-Open SUNY Textbooks
http://textbooks.opensuny.org/
-Boundless
https://www.boundless.com/
-Saylor Academy
http://www.saylor.org/books/
-Wikibooks
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/
Main_Page
OER Collections
-BC Campus OpenEd
https://open.bccampus.ca/
-Cool4Ed
http://coolfored.org/about.html
-Merlot
https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
-OER Commons
https://www.oercommons.org/
Open Textbook Library
https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/

14. References
 Best, Kenneth (2016, February 2). UConn Leading State’s Open Textbook Initiative. Storrs, CT: UConn Communications. Retrieved from http://today.uconn.edu/2016/02/uconn-
leading-states-open-textbook-initiative/
 Garg, K., & Chien, C. V. (2014, September 26). Promoting Open Education to Help Teachers and Students Around the World [Web log post]. Retrieved from
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/26/promoting-open-education-help-teachers-and-students-around-world
 Open Government Partnership. (2015, October 27). The Open Government Partnership: Third Open Government National Action Plan for the United States of America (United
States of America, White House Office). Retrieved March 8, 2016, from
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/final_us_open_government_national_action_plan_3_0.pdf
 OpenStax College. (2014, August 25). Rice's OpenStax College will add 10 new titles by 2017 [Press release]. Retrieved March 8, 2016, from
https://openstaxcollege.org/news/rice-s-openstax-college-will-add-10-new-titles-by-2017
 Press Office, U.S. Department of Education. (2015, October 29). U.S. Department of Education Launches Campaign to Encourage Schools to #GoOpen with Educational
Resources [Press release]. Retrieved March 8, 2016, from http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-launches-campaign-encourage-schools-goopen-
educational-resources
 Regulations.gov (2015). Open Licensing Requirement for Direct Grant Programs. Retrieved from https://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=ED-2015-os-0105
 Senack, E. (2015, February). Open textbooks: The billion-dollar solution (Rep.). Retrieved March 8, 2016, from The Student PIRGs website:
http://studentpirgs.org/sites/student/files/reports/The%20Billion%20Dollar%20Solution.pdf
 U.S. Government (2016). Analytical Perspectives: Budget of the U.S. Government (pp. 287-292) (United States, Federal Government, Office of Management and Budget).
Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2017/assets/spec.pdf
 Wiley, D., Green, C., Soares, L., & American Progress, C. F. (2012).Dramatically Bringing down the Cost of Education with OER: How Open Education Resources Unlock the Door to
Free Learning. Center for American Progress. Retrieved March 8, 2016, from ERIC.
 Zubrzycki, J. (2016, February 26). 13 States Join Federal Open Resource Initiative [Web log post]. Retrieved March 8, 2016, from
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2016/02/open_educational_resources.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw