How NC State’s OER Program is Transforming Student Learning

A series of videos to supplement learning in organic chemistry labs.

An interactive, multimedia history textbook focused on the Civil War and Reconstruction.

A crowdsourced resource collaboratively written and evaluated by grad students.

These are some of the many alternative textbook projects that have been funded by NC State University’s Alt-Textbook Program since it began giving out grants in 2014.

David Tully, the Principal Librarian for Student Affordability at NC State University Libraries, is the program’s lead. He says last year the OER program awarded around $70,000 worth of grants to instructors at NC State to develop open educational resources (OER) for their classrooms.

“The projects we get are really diverse,” says Tully. Anything that acts as an alternative to a commercial textbook and can be made available as an OER is considered. This could include videos, podcasts, modules, assignments, quizzes, images, syllabi, and—of course—textbooks. OER materials are published under copyright licenses that allow for free, legal sharing. In most cases, the licenses also permit adaptation of the work.

One major benefit is cost savings for students. A 2021 study from U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that 65 percent of students reported they’d skipped buying commercial textbooks because of the expense. For students identified as “food insecure,” it was 82 percent.

The study also notes that recent changes in format and pricing models, like online texts with single-user access codes, have increased the problem by eliminating the ways students traditionally got around high textbook costs: used copies, library copies, and sharing a copy with classmates.

The other benefit of OER is that it can be much more effective because faculty can customize the materials for their course and students. “The ability to update existing content is really important for students,” says Tully. “I quite like the idea of giving control of materials back to the instructor.”

Many instructors use the control to create up-to-date materials on dynamic topics that are changing rapidly or to fill a gap the commercial market hasn’t addressed. One example is NC State’s Biology in the Modern World course, which enrolls large numbers of both STEM and non-STEM majors. That course has been historically difficult to source a textbook for.

OER can also be customized with examples and images that better represent today’s student body, says Tully: “A lot of textbooks are still written for this idea of a typical college student, which is no longer the reality. When students don’t see themselves reflected in their own materials, they can be less engaged.”

Using an OER program for institutional impact

Successful applicants to the NC State Alt-Textbook Program receive a stipend to support their work developing or adapting an open resource and have a liaison from the committee who makes sure they have the guidance and resources they need.

When the committee is evaluating proposals, says Tully, “we’re looking for folks who want to build something for their own class, but who are also excited by making it available for other students and educators around the world.”

Second, they’re looking for project proposals that are well scoped. In the committee’s experience, the most successful projects are the ones that have a realistic timeline and clearly defined deliverables.

Finally, the committee is looking for impact. This means that projects designed for gateway courses are of particular interest. A project that saves 800 students $100-200 each can have a huge impact in the school, says Tully. “Any course that has a large number of students is likely to get looked at a little more closely.”

Beyond textbooks: Multimedia OER

The types of projects that have been funded by the Alt-Textbook Program are extremely varied. For example, some instructors are looking to create an interactive or dynamic website using H5P. The instructor of a recent Health and Exercise Science class created a suite of videos students can refer back to if they didn’t quite catch a movement in the live demonstration.

Others might use the funding to hire a grad student to help build an AI chatbot that answers student questions and helps them study.

Some instructors are looking to enhance textbooks with other media. For example, a group of NC State instructors were inspired by John McMurry of Cornell University having made the 10th edition of his bestselling organic chemistry textbook available as an OER. They revised and updated the text and added in their own content, such as videos and interactive activities. The instructors worked together to complete their adaptation of all the sections and created a powerful free resource for students.

“That was a huge success,” says Tully. “The sheer scale of student cost savings was really significant.”

Supporting a more open future

The process of copyrighting something as OER is very straightforward. All the creator of the material needs to do is attach a Creative Commons license. But there are still challenges when it comes to making those resources searchable and available to other instructors.

Fortunately, says Tully, the open education community is extremely helpful and supportive. Instructors, librarians, and administrators can find plenty of resources to help them incorporate OER in the classroom.

Tully recommends joining existing networks like SPARC and Open Education Network, and taking advantage of the conferences, workshops, and community network.

“The strength of this whole thing lies in the community and the network around it,” says Tully. “Librarians want to help other people—including other librarians.”