Affordable Course Materials and OER at NEIU

Affordable Course Materials at NEIU

Imagine a class where all of your students have their required books and materials on the first day. Many faculty are making this dream a reality by assigning affordable course materials (ACM) at NEIU. NEIU's Student Government Association has indicated that $40 or less is a reasonable cost for students, and that textbook affordability factors into their enrollment choices.

 

In Spring 2022, the Affordable Course Materials Committee conducted a needs assessment to understand faculty awareness and attitudes toward adopting or authoring open educational resources (OER) at NEIU. We found that more than 70% of survey participants are either currently using, or interested in using, OER. This is just one of many ways we can reduce the barriers students face in accessing the materials they need to be successful.

 

One of the goals of the Affordable Course Materials Committee is to determine the current status of the use of OERs at NEIU, in addition to developing a larger University-wide strategy for promoting them. We also want to celebrate the work that faculty have already done in adopting affordable course materials. We know we're not alone in doing this work, and we want to ensure that we capture the most complete information available. To that end, we've developed a brief self-reporting tool for faculty to let us know that they are currently teaching courses with affordable materials.

 

Please fill out this form if you teach a course that costs $40 or less in required materials, even if you've participated in any NEIU events or workshops related to affordable course materials or open educational resources in the past. This will help the ACM Committee ensure we have the most complete data available about these efforts at our university.