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Affordable Learning Solutions

I'm a Faculty

STEP 1:

A. Submit your textbook and instructional materials orders to the campus bookstore by deadline

B. If you have copies of your textbooks, put them on reserve at the Library.

C. Have to have textbooks? Commit to multiple terms when possible - this helps with buy-back for students, and textbook rentals.

STEP 2:

A. Discover the new CA Open Online Library  www.COOL4Ed.org  to view open textbooks and reviewed by faculty in the CSU, UC and CCC.

B. Find open educational resources associated with your textbook by enter the ISBN # in the search below.

 

C. Highlighting and using the CSU Rent Digital program in your courses.  Did you know with over 50,000  e-textbook choices offering savings of  60% or more off the cost of new print textbooks are available through the bookstore?

D. Use CSU MERLOT  http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm to discover more than 3,500  FREE and OPEN textbooks and over 62,000  FREE course material. 

I'm a STUDENT

STEP 1:

A. When ordering your reading materials (textbooks, etc.) from the Kennel Bookstore, pay close attention to Options, Choices, Selection.

Like in this example:

Example of Options when ordering

STEP 2:

A. If you find less expensive course materials for the courses you are taking, let your instructor(s) know.

Boundless texts, which must be read online, cover the key terms, concepts, and examples without the bells and whistles. The free textbooks cover the same topics covered in other introductory textbooks in that subject. 

ManyBooks.net- Search over 29,000 books by Author, title, Genre or Language.

College Open Textbooks.org- Not a repository but searchable listings pointing to open textbooks in other repositories.

University of Minnesota Open Textbook Catalog - Open textbooks written by academics from many institutions.  Cover a wide variety of subjects.

Project Gutenberg - Now over 42,000 free books.  If you're in the humanities, you've hit the jackpot.  Interested in self publishing? visit self.gutenberg.org.

Bartleby.com Great Books Online. Reference, Poetry, Fiction and Non fiction now in the public domain.

It’s easier than ever to create your own instructional materials and provide them to your students at little or no cost.

Check out these easy-to-use tools for customizing textbooks or creating course packs:

Or create your own learning materials using one of these simple tools:

 

Open, OER and More

@ONE Webinar: Creative Commons Licensing and Open Educational Resources (OER)

 

Open Access Workshops and Conferences - A worldwide list of conferences and workshops related to open access.

 Open Education Week - An annual event, usually held in March, that celebrates Open Education. 

Open Access Week - An annual event held in October.

Copyright Crash Course from Georgia K. Harper, University of Texas System - Includes information on Creative Commons, Open Access resources, fair use, the TEACH Act and more.

Creative Commons licenses What is it? How does it work? Where can I find creative commons works? 

Richard Baraniuk Goodbye, textbooks; hello, open-source learning

Open Textbook Panel

Dispelling Myths about Open Textbooks
      http://www.educause.edu/eli/events/eli-fall-focus-session/2011/dispelling-myths-about-oeropen-textbooks


Accessible Technology Initiative California State University's (CSU) ongoing commitment to provide access to information resources and technologies to individuals with disabilities.

Simply Said: Understanding Accessibility in Digital Learning Materials

 

ADA, Student Learning & OER Textbooks, Dr. Ruth Guthrie 4/4/16

 

CURRENT NEWS

College Textbook Affordability Act (2015)

AB 798 created an OER incentive program providing CCC and CSU with 3 million dollars to accelerate and promote the adoption of OER by faculty to save students money on textbooks. Fresno State was awarded 50K, contingent on faculty adopting OER in 50 sections during 2016-2017. Funds must be spent on professional development, outreach, and the curation of OER including a Textbook Affordability Campus Coordinator position to facilitate OER activities.

SB-1359 Public postsecondary education: course materials (2016)

Taking effect in January 2018, CCC and CSU campuses must clearly highlight, by means that may include a symbol or logo in a conspicuous place on the online campus course schedule, the courses that exclusively use digital course materials that are free of charge to students and may have a low-cost option for print versions. The course materials may include open educational resources (OER), institutionally licensed campus library materials that all students enrolled in the course have access to use, and other properly licensed and adopted materials. Collegial processes must therefore be developed to track sections in which faculty use OER exclusively.