18 Oregon State University Affordable Content Initiative

David Goodrum, Director of Academic Technology, Oregon State University

Oregon State University has formed an affordable learning initiative based on the idea that earning a degree is a journey, and buying textbooks shouldn’t be a roadblock. Our goal is to ensure that 100 percent of Oregon State students have no-cost or low-cost access to course materials on the first day of class.

Our librarians at Oregon State work with faculty to identify full text ebooks, journals, and other course materials already owned by the university. The library also provides resources for understanding and exploring open educational resources (see: https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/OpenEd).

The Open Oregon State unit, a part of Oregon State Extended Campus, works with faculty to provide open textbooks and other no-cost course materials. Oregon State faculty have authored many open textbooks, and dozens more are in production (view the catalog at: https://open.oregonstate.edu/textbooks/catalog.htm). In 2018, Open Oregon State also issued a new request for proposals for Baccalaureate Core Open Textbooks, where our faculty can obtain financial and personal assistance to adopt, adapt, or author open textbooks and other no-cost or low-cost course materials.

The Oregon State Libraries, Open Oregon State, and the Academic Technology unit in University Information and Technology continue to partner with the OSU Beaver Store (a student-governed nonprofit company). We are focused on approaches to provide day-one access and no-cost and low-cost course materials, including exploring the use of the Unizin Engage eReader and Unizin-negotiated pricing with publishers for eTexts and digital learning tools.