OER & Course Material Affordability: Faculty Showcase

Courses: PHI 100 Introduction to Philosophy & PHI 220 Ethics and Society

Instructor: Dr. Ivan Guajardo

Materials: Chapters from multiple OER philosophy textbooks.

Support: Initiated by Open Education Network (OEN) Workshop, BOLD initiative, instructor-led initiative.

Estimated Savings: $118.50 per student. From spring 2017 to spring 2024 $234, 929. 

Courses: GOL 105- Physical Geology & GOL 106 Historical Geology

Instructor: Dr. Anna Balog

Materials: Free instructor-created materials replaced the textbook. Re-usable lab kits replaced commercial ones. 

Support: Distributed by Brown Library and maintained by the Geology Department. Initially funded by an Innovation Grant.

Estimated Savings: $300 per student. From spring 2017 to fall 2019 $254, 400. 

Course: CST 100 - Principles of Public Speaking

Instructor: Amy Anguiano 

Materials: Lumen Learning's Principles of Public Speaking

Support: VCCS ZX23 Grant & Instructor-led effort for departmental adoption

Estimated Savings: $48.00 per student. From spring 2017 to fall 2019 $115,902

Course: ENG 111- College Composition 1

Instructors: Ann Moser, Kirsten DeVries, Elizabeth Browning, Jenifer Kurtz, Kathy Boylan, Katelyn Burton (Librarian)

Materials: An OER textbook written by faculty authors replaced two commercial textbooks.. 

Support: Funded by an Innovation Grant & Open Textbook Network Workshop

Estimated Savings: $101 per student. From summer 2018 to fall 2019 $214,423.

Press: "Virginia Western Teachers, Librarians Create Free Textbook for Students", The Roanoke Times, 4/16/19.

Course: HLT 230- Principles of Nutrition and Human Development

Instructors: Matt Goff

Materials: Human Nutrition (U. of Hawai'i at Manoa)

Support: Instructor-led effort & Open Textbook Network Workshop

Estimated Savings: $159.75 per student. From summer 2019 to fall 2019 $17,408

Course: ENG 241-Survey of American Literature I

Instructor: Jenifer Kurtz

Materials: Public Domain materials and an existing OER textbook

Support: Funded by a VIVA Course Redesign Grant

Estimated Savings: $172.75 per student for fall 2019 (pilot), $9,329. 

Course: NAS 2- Foundations of Life Science

Instructors: Matt Goff, Stacie Deaver

Materials: A combination of two Open Stax textbooks replaced a commercial textbook

Support: Instructor-led effort & Open Textbook Network Workshop

Estimated Savings: $175.00 per student. From fall 2018 to fall 2019 $37,800

Here you can see our progress so far (in the survey results) and how some of your colleagues are using OER and low-cost materials (below). Our students saved more than $300,000 in materials costs during fall 2023 alone. For more information, see our OER Survey at the link below.