Affordable Course Materials

Discipline:  Graduate Special Education

Number of classes that you’ve introduced zero cost materials into:  20 courses

1. What led you to choose zero-cost course materials for your class? 

   • "A proactive effort to recruit and retain more students"

2. What types of material(s) are you using in your zero textbook cost courses?

   • "Articles, OER textbooks, ebooks, video recordings, website information (such as MN Dept. of Education)"

3. What advantages have you seen or what went well with the introduction of zero cost materials?

   • "Materials align more closely to topics/standards for weekly readings, students appreciate not having to purchase books"

4. What challenges did you face implementing these materials? 

   • "Some instructors and students rely on hard copies and struggle with transitioning to electronic resources; determining a manageable number of readings each week; identifying relevant resources aligned to standards and topics. Once instructors get to know the materials they can help identify which items are excellent and which can be dropped or changed."

5. What would you share with a faculty member considering a zero cost textbook option?

   • "Know what specific topics are to be supported through these resources and if possible, read each one to determine if it is a good fit both in content and time to read/review."

6. What has been the impact of this change on the students in your course(s)?

   • "So far, most of the feedback I have received is positive from both students and instructors.  Students for the most part appreciate the savings."

7. Is there anything else you would like to share that hasn’t been covered?

   • "For program chairs like myself who don't teach all of the courses in the program, it is difficult to become familiar with all of the electronic resources and fine-tune the offerings in each course reading list.  I am very thankful for the help and support of the library services team!"

Discipline: MAED-Early Childhood Program

Number of classes that you’ve introduced zero cost materials into: "Since Fall of 2020, all courses (10) in the MAED-Early Childhood Program have been zero cost to students. That would include four new cohorts plus the existing cohorts."

1. What led you to choose zero cost course materials for your class?

   • "Wanting to better support the needs of our graduate ECE students. This field is not a high paying field so any support we can offer to make continued graduate education affordable to student practitioners is a priority. It also advances equity with more accessibility to all students."

2. What types of material(s) are you using in your zero textbook cost courses?

   • "Combination of articles, OER textbook, ebooks"

3. What advantages have you seen or what went well with the introduction of zero cost materials?

   • "So far, I have only received positive feedback from students. Some students may choose to purchase some of the texts if available, but less than 2% of students are doing that now."

4. What challenges did you face implementing these materials?

   • "It took time to find replacements and update all of the syllabi and then communicate with instructors, but it is something that can increase value to the student and supports student retention"

5. What would you share with a faculty member considering a zero cost textbook option?

   • "The Library Services Team is awesome in supporting each Program Chair in mapping out replacements to make this possible. I think anything we can do to support our current graduate students and help them have more value from their CSP learning experience is very important."

6. What has been the impact of this change on the students in your course(s)?

   • "Students not waiting on textbooks and getting behind when materials take longer than expected to ship. All positive."

1. What led you to choose zero cost course materials for your class?

   • "I was finding that students weren't purchasing the expensive textbook.  As a result, they weren't doing the required readings which hampered in-class discussion and their academic success.  I also found myself designing the classroom activities with the assumption they had not read."

2. What types of material(s) are you using in your zero textbook cost courses?

   • "I used a digital textbook accessible through the library in combination with a few supplemental articles and websites."

3. What advantages have you seen or what went well with the introduction of zero cost materials?

   • "The biggest advantage is the confidence that cost is not a barrier to student access for course materials.  I definitely saw an increase in student engagement with the material.  A higher percentage of students were using the required resources for their assignments."

4. What challenges did you face implementing these materials?

   • "Probably three challenges - the time it takes to curate the required resources, the text I found was verging on being dated - so keeping things current, and finally the lack of publisher content.  The lack of publisher content was OK, but it did require more creative work to develop this on my own.  Again, this takes time."

5. What would you share with a faculty member considering a zero-cost textbook option?

   • "I would encourage them to actively consider moving to a zero-cost option.  Meet with a librarian to help survey the options and put a plan in place.  It takes some time, so don't wait until right before the semester."

6. What has been the impact of this change on the students in your course(s)?

   • "Students have been more connected to the material. Or said another way, they are actually reading it and using it as a resource for class assignments.  Some students prefer a hard copy - which is available for some resources.  Students appreciated the no-cost strategy."

7. Is there anything else you would like to share that hasn’t been covered?

   • "No, but deeply appreciate the work of the library staff in supporting this initiative.  It not only saves students money, but increases the quality of the learning environment for the whole class and learning community."

Discipline: Sociology

Number of classes that you’ve introduced zero cost materials into: Five

1. What led you to choose zero cost course materials for your class?

   • "To reduce cost of course materials (and cost of attending CSP) to the students, while maintaining and enhancing access to proper academic and relevant materials. Also, as a Digital Resource Officer for a PhD program in the UK, I see the benefits of the enhanced use of digital resources. There is also the benefit that students have access to the materials readily through online therefore, not needing to carry books and yet having ready access to the course tests, reading materials etc. The side benefit is that students learn how to use digital resources for their current an future work as I see this (digital resources) as a trend in higher education."

2. What types of material(s) are you using in your zero textbook cost courses? (e.g. articles, OER textbook, ebooks, etc.):

   • "OERs'; ebooks; Journal articles; videos; pdf's through sources such as Google Scholar; Academia.edu., conference and presentation papers."

3. What advantages have you seen or what went well with the introduction of zero cost materials?

   • "Students readily accepted the use of zero (or near zero) cost materials. Other than the instructors' time investment of time locating sources, the other investment is clearly explaining the use of OERs, ebooks etc to the students  at the onset of the course. As stated in '1' students have provided feedback that they appreciate having online access to the materials."

4. What challenges did you face implementing these materials?

   • "There is an initial upfront investment of time: researching resources; meeting with CSP's Research Librarians; contacting publishers that already use OERs."

5. What would you share with a faculty member considering a zero cost textbook option?

   • "There is an upfront investment of time locating sources; however, it has assisted me to see what more is published and available in the digital world, which is ever expanding as programs (bachelors, masters and PhDs) are moving quickly toward this area. Also, supplementing the OER's and ebooks, which may be a bit dated, with up-to-date journal articles; vidoes, such as TED Talks and other options in Kanopy etc. provides me and the students with a variety of approaches and lenses by which they can view the material and concepts of the classes and courses. Another side benefit that I did not initially realize is that students learned more about how to locate, use and hence see the benefits of the use (and increasing richness) of digital resources available to them."

6. What has been the impact of this change on the students in your course(s)?

   • "Students have stated directly to me and through the course feedback that they appreciated the effort of identifying low or zero cost options, but also that a few of the OER's etc. were excellent choices."

7. Is there anything else you would like to share that hasn’t been covered?

   • "There is a bit of a challenge in locating recent OER's or ebooks; however, I use these as foundational materials and enhance the readings with more up-to-date materials. These are in the form of journal articles, videos and other scholarly publications such as conference or presentation papers or even the use of guest speakers either in-person or through either live or recorded Zoom. There is of course a challenge to keep searching for resources; however, I believe this enhances my own learning of my subject area. One concern students did state is that they had desired to have continued access to some of the resources as they proceeded through their academic journey as a reference for future study or even an ability to print certain pages etc. I have not fully explored this. Another benefit is onboarding CFP's as they can also see the richness of the use of digital resources and can use their own creativity to enhance their skill set and lecture style and delivery."