Young man holding a stack pile of books in one hand and a piggy bank in the other hand

New affordable course materials cohort

Welcome and congratulate our new ACM Cohort!

Three applicants from three different colleges were chosen from an impressive pool of candidates all committed to transitioning existing courses to low or zero cost course materials.

  • Gibson Cima, Theatre and Dance
  • Ricela Feliciano, Mathematical Sciences
  • Michelle Sands, Special and Early Education
Gibson Cima
Ricela Feliciano
Michelle Sands

Those selected were notified in late October 2023, and the first cohort meeting took place in November.

Throughout Spring 2024, cohort participants will not only find out how to locate, assess, and integrate materials with a total cost of $40 or less into their courses, but they will also learn about copyright, creative commons licensing, and utilizing NIU’s institutional repository, Huskie Commons; explore open pedagogy; and discover practices to address equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Faculty in the cohort commit to using the ACM materials for two consecutive semesters of the course, which will be designated as low cost or zero cost in MyNIU, and commit to surveying their students about the materials. Cohort members will also share their experience with affordable course materials in a presentation to the campus community.

Why should I use affordable course materials? 

Woman hitting piggy bank with a hammer on tableThe average annual cost of textbooks is $1400, which would take 100 hours at Illinois’ 2024 minimum wage of $14/hour to cover. According to a 2019 Florida Virtual Campus survey, the impact of textbook cost includes students not purchasing the required textbook, taking fewer courses, not registering for specific courses with high course material costs, earning poor grades because they cannot afford the textbook, and dropping a course.

NIU’s Strategic Enrollment Plan (SEM 2.0) includes a goal to improve access and affordability (Goal 2) and the goal of improving student success, persistence, and graduation (Goal 3). Adopting affordable course materials in your course can help toward achieving those goals.

How Can I Get Started with Affordable Course Materials? 

  1. Contact your NIU Subject Specialist librarian to learn more about open, free, or library-licensed materials.
  2. Look for OER in a variety of resources. Most OER organizations or collaborations have a database, and many disciplines have their own OER websites.
  3. Adopt and/or adapt an open textbook, or adopt a low-cost textbook.
  4. Create an open textbook.
  5. Consider accessibility. “Open” does not necessarily mean accessible!

Visit the NIU Open Education website to learn more about finding affordable course materials or designating your course as low or zero cost in MyNIU.

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