120 Representative Documents: Incentive Programs
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
SCoer
A Library Initiative to Provide Access to Affordable Educational Resources
Background:
A significant factor in college affordability is the price of textbooks and supplies. According to a
national survey conducted by SPARC, 95% of students worry that forgoing a textbook will
impact their grade, 65% of students report not buying a textbook due to costs, and 48% report
that the costs of textbooks determines the amount of classes they will take.
Open Educational Resources present a unique solution to the problems surrounding high
textbook costs. Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that have
been published online under an open license granting everyone permission to freely and legally
access, download and redistribute files, produce hard copies of the material, tailor the material,
mix multiple OERs to create new works and keep and use copies of the material forever.
Students and faculty would have an affordable option to support their learning and research.
According to case studies and research conducted by both the University of Minnesota and Rice
University, faculty who have reviewed open educational resources have a 90% adoption rate of
the materials. Faculty choosing to adopt these materials can save the students they teach
hundreds of dollars.
Program
The University Libraries will budget $2000 to fund four $500 grants for faculty to commit to using
an OER or library-licensed resource in place of a traditional textbook. This grant would be given
to professors based on the following criteria:
• The professor must attend a library workshop on OER
• The professor must submit a syllabus showing their usage of an OER or library-licensed
resource for a future course
• The professor must complete two follow up surveys within the year after the award is
granted
Long Term Goals
We hope this program increases faculty awareness of open educational resources and leads to
the increase of adoptions of these resources at our university to save our student body money,
promote student success, and increase faculty openness of research, learning, and teaching
resources.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
SCoer
A Library Initiative to Provide Access to Affordable Educational Resources
Background:
A significant factor in college affordability is the price of textbooks and supplies. According to a
national survey conducted by SPARC, 95% of students worry that forgoing a textbook will
impact their grade, 65% of students report not buying a textbook due to costs, and 48% report
that the costs of textbooks determines the amount of classes they will take.
Open Educational Resources present a unique solution to the problems surrounding high
textbook costs. Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that have
been published online under an open license granting everyone permission to freely and legally
access, download and redistribute files, produce hard copies of the material, tailor the material,
mix multiple OERs to create new works and keep and use copies of the material forever.
Students and faculty would have an affordable option to support their learning and research.
According to case studies and research conducted by both the University of Minnesota and Rice
University, faculty who have reviewed open educational resources have a 90% adoption rate of
the materials. Faculty choosing to adopt these materials can save the students they teach
hundreds of dollars.
Program
The University Libraries will budget $2000 to fund four $500 grants for faculty to commit to using
an OER or library-licensed resource in place of a traditional textbook. This grant would be given
to professors based on the following criteria:
• The professor must attend a library workshop on OER
• The professor must submit a syllabus showing their usage of an OER or library-licensed
resource for a future course
• The professor must complete two follow up surveys within the year after the award is
granted
Long Term Goals
We hope this program increases faculty awareness of open educational resources and leads to
the increase of adoptions of these resources at our university to save our student body money,
promote student success, and increase faculty openness of research, learning, and teaching
resources.
