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Open Educational Resources & Affordable Course Content

A guide for Wagner College faculty and academic staff in the basics of finding, and using open educational resources (OER) and affordable course content.

ACC & OER: What they are and what to consider.

What is Affordable Course Content (ACC)?

Affordable Course Content, or ACC, are materials that can be provided to students and faculty at a much reduced cost.  Materials already purchased or licensed by the library are one example of ACC, since the cost of using such items is already factored into tuition and college operating budgets (find a better way to articulate this!!!).  Another example would be scholarly materials available for purchase at cost via print-on-demand services. Some such services have been highlighted in the Affordable Course Content section of this guide. 

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

Open educational resources (OER) are free and openly licensed educational materials that can be used for teaching, learning, research, and other purposes. https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/What_is_OER%3F

Why should you consider using ACC and OER?

  • Some material may be available through Horrmann Library. Using content purchased or licensed by Horrmann Library prevents students from having to purchase access to books, coursepacks, and online materials that may already be available to them.
  • A variety of high quality educational resources can already be found online at no cost, and some can be purchased in physical format for a nominal fee.
  • Faculty wishing to create their own open educational resources can tailor the materials to their specific courses and students.
  • According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics college textbook costs rose 88% between 2006 and 2016, vastly outpacing inflation.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, College tuition and fees increase 63 percent since January 2006 on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/college-tuition-and-fees-increase-63-percent-since-january-2006.htm (visited November 7, 2019).