Open Educational Resources: Home

During our first round of AB 798 grant funding (Fall 2016 - Spring 2018):

• 45 course sections adopted Open Educational Resources (OERs) to reduce or eliminate textbook costs.
• 1,307 students were impacted.
• Collectively, students saved a total of $174,826 when their instructors switched to free or low-cost open source textbooks.

A second round of AB 798 grant funding allowed our college to build on the work from the first round of grant funding, saving students even more money by reducing textbook costs. This additional grant funding opened up further professional development opportunities for faculty interested in exploring OER adoption and learning more about how replacing costly publisher's textbooks with openly-licensed educational resources can positively impact student success. From Summer 2018 to Fall 2019, students saved an additional $428,178. OER adoptions through Spring 2020 bring the total savings to $856,970!

This is great news - But we're not done yet! We have a goal to further increase adoptions in additional courses and save students even more money. Studies show that reducing textbook costs allows students to move through their programs quicker because they can afford to take more classes instead of paying for costly textbooks. Some students avoid taking a class due to the cost of the textbook or attempt to complete a class without purchasing a textbook.

How does an instructor adopt OER for a course at Cerro Coso?

1. Replace or supplement current traditional textbooks.

• Check out our OpenStax textbooks.
• Search repositories on the Finding OER tab.
• Ask a librarian for assistance.

2. Modify, adapt, and incorporate new OERs into lectures and assignments.

• Librarians and POCR teams can provide support with accessibility.

3. Adopt OERs through Faculty Enlight.

• Include note of free access to digital copy with the option to purchase a print copy.