Open Educational Resources (OER)

Colorado Revised Statute 23-1-134 requires that public institutions of higher education inform students about which courses and sections use free open educational resources (OER) and other low-cost materials. This "marks" the course as OER or low-cost. At UNC, "low cost" is defined as less than $20 for all course materials.

Course marking information is made available to UNC students in the schedule of classes and through the registration system. This video shows students how to search for OER classes when they are registering. 

  Alignment with institutional goals

UNC is a Students First institution and works to eliminate institutional barriers to our students' progress. Textbook costs can be an economic barrier to student success and degree completion, as this 2021 survey demonstrates. 

  Transparency in cost

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, an amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965, requires that institutions disclose the cost of textbooks to ensure students have full knowledge of all potential costs they might incur. This creates transparency so that students and their families can budget accordingly.  

  Increasing student agency and choice

Course markings enable students to better understand the cost of their course materials so they can make informed choices about their course schedule and course load. This gives students agency so they can make decisions that are right for them and their specific circumstances. 

  Program assessment and outreach

When faculty accurately report their use of OER and low-cost materials, campus OER advocates can better understand which departments, courses, and degrees of study use these materials. This can help them focus outreach efforts and can lead the way for the development of z-degrees (full degree programs that use no-cost materials from start to finish).  

Prior to each semester in which a faculty member teaches classes, they should receive an email from the UNC Bookstore (textbooks@unco.edu) with a subject line that may read “Fall Adoption Request” or “Spring Textbook Adoption.” This email will have instructions on how to report all needed course materials -- even if they use OER and do not require the purchase of any materials. 

While it may seem counterintuitive to submit information to the UNC Bookstore when using OER in a class (since students don't need to purchase anything), it's a vitally important step in the course marking process.

The information faculty submit to the Bookstore about OER becomes part of datasets that are fed into the course schedule, which allows students to know the cost of their course materials before registering. It also lets students search directly for OER courses in the registration system and it helps the AOER Committee understand the full scope of which courses at UNC use OER. 

This is an example of a course use no-cost OER materials taught by Dr. Oscar Levin:

Some material on this page adapted from "OER & Low Cost Course Marking at CU" by University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, which is licensed CC BY 4.0. 

Image of Spring 2023 Math 228 006 from the University of Northern Colorado Bookstore is copyrighted and used under the fair use exception.