Open Educational Resources
Mission & Vision
Mission
The Provost's OER Working Group aims to develop strategies and intra-university support for faculty members who adopt, adapt, and create OER (Open Educational Resources) to improve course material affordability, connect learning objectives to the resources and create engaging learning experiences for students at 鶹.
Vision
Create an affordable, inclusive, and localized higher education environment through quality OER materials.
Why, What, & How
Textbook Prices
- According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, college textbook prices increased 187.5 percent in the past decade, more than any other cost to college students in that same time period.
- Over the past decade, textbook prices have risen at over three times the rate of inflation.
- 66% of students have chosen not to purchase a textbook because it was too expensive.
Control Over Course Content
- The use of OER frees faculty and instructors from having to design courses based on a commercial textbook, by which the publisher inherently dictates how the course is delivered. Using OER brings the flexibility to choose current and relevant course materials, as well as to create and/or adapt the content to match learners' needs and their teaching style.
Students' and Institutional Performance
- OER improve end-of-course grades and decrease DFW (D, F, and Withdrawal letter grades) rates for all students. They also improve course grades at greater rates and decrease DFW rates at greater rates for Pell recipient students, part-time students, and populations historically underserved by higher education.
- A study published in 2015 found that students who used OER in their undergraduate courses performed as well or better (course completion, final grade, final grade of C- or higher, enrollment intensity, and enrollment intensity in the following semester) than those assigned commercial textbooks.
Zero-Cost Options
OER
- Open Education Resources are openly licensed text, media, and other digital assets that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes. These materials can be modified and redistributed without permission.
- There are different Creative Commons Licenses that creators can apply to their work, some which allow for the work to be more open than others. OER must follow all 5 Rs in order for it to truly be classified as such:
- Retain
- Reuse
- Revise
- Remix
- Redistribute
To learn more about the 5 Rs and what they mean, please visit our .
If there are any restrictions on how the material can be modified, retained, or distributed, this is no longer considered OER.Other Zero-Cost Options
OER is not the only road to affordability in the classroom; commercially published materials can still be made available at no additional cost to the students via:- Open access materials
- Library materials
- Course reserves
Low-Cost Options
While the Provost’s OER Working group highly encourages the use of zero-cost materials, we understand that sometimes the best way to address the learning objectives of the course will be for students to purchase commercially published materials. It was decided that $40 appropriately reflects a price that is within 鶹’s Culture of Care while also allowing many high-quality materials to fall into the “low cost” category. Costs of course materials across the University, cost of living in El Paso, dependence on Financial Aid, and other UT System Institutions’ threshold for “low-cost” were carefully considered.
- Identify learning objectives for the course or program. This will highlight which objectives are being met by the course materials and which are not.
- Compile OER + other affordable materials to create a course materials package tailored to your course outcomes
- Creating an affordable course material plan can be done for:
- one course taught by a singular faculty member
- across various sections of the same course in collaboration with colleagues
- or across a program or department spearheaded by the chair
- Mark courses as Zero or Low-Cost in Goldmine through so students can filter for those classes during registration.
- Tessy, the OER Librarian at the University Library, can help at all stages of an affordable course material plan. A feasibility search can be completed to find available zero- and low-cost materials based on syllabi, learning objectives, and/or any other information that can be helpful in finding resources. A request for a feasibility search from Tessy can be made via the form or via email at mttorres3@utep.edu.
Six Guiding Principles of OER at 鶹
- Fostering agency in the development of learning goals and objectives beyond commercial instructional materials
- Curating and creating course materials which allow for the opportunity to critically reflect on learning outcomes and consider the quality of students’ learning
- Facilitating creative consideration when outlining learning outcomes and how to curate the course materials that works best for the faculty/instructors and the students
- Embracing the use of non-traditional and unconventional learning resources in higher education, not only to address learning outcomes, but also student accessibility
- Enhancing students’ learning experiences through the use of dynamic instructional materials
- Removing socio-economic and political barriers that prevent certain materials from being published in the higher education realm
- Allowing a space for marginalized and under-represented voices/perspectives to be included in instructional materials in positions of authoritativeness and expertise
- Allowing end users to dictate the continued enhancement of course materials to more effectively address learning objectives
- Promoting accessibility and universal design strategies to benefit end users regardless of accommodation need
- Encouraging collaboration across departments and disciplines to create materials with global and diverse perspectives
- Recognizing the intersectionality of different identities and providing a platform that celebrates all aspects of end users
- Increasing class and program retention among Hispanic students by eliminating restrictive costs to quality materials
- Creating and adding materials to the educational landscape that represent the diverse population at 鶹, celebrating identity, intersectionality, and culture
- Celebrating the multiculturalism within the Hispanic population, highlighting the different traditions from various cultures in Latin America
- Including bilingual materials that enhance the teaching and learning experience for end users
- Contributing to the mission to create a culture of global awareness
- Foster consistent evaluation and improvement of courses being taught with OER or affordable materials
- Provide the infrastructure for pre and post- publication quality evaluation of locally created or adapted OER
- Collaborate/partner with colleges and departments to nominate knowledgeable volunteers to perform quality assessment of course materials germane to their expertise, which can then be acknowledged for tenure and promotion
- Develop and maintain quality assessment instruments that incorporates feedback from subject experts and end users
- Instilling a culture of collaboration and creativity by making OER as viable an option as commercially published course materials
- Educating end users, to include instructors and students, on the benefits and challenges about using OER so they can be advocates for non-traditional course materials in the classroom
- Providing incentives to adapt and create OER, with the help of support services, at the department and administrative level
- In accordance with the UT System’s Affordable Learning Initiative, reduce the overall price tag of obtaining a higher education by alleviating restrictive course materials costs
- Incorporating a culture of care at 鶹 to showcase, highlight, and retain the talent of the El Paso and Borderland community
- Create and provide localized instructional materials to meet the needs of the student population at 鶹
- Assist the University’s mission to increase access to excellent higher education across various socio-economical status by eliminating restrictive textbook costs
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between "free" and "open access"?
Is “Open Access” (OA) the same thing as “Open Educational Resources” (OER)?
OER falls under the larger umbrella that is Open Access. An OA resource may be traditionally published, usually includes restrictions on the modification and reuse of its content but is free of cost to access. OER are materials that have been licensed in a way that—in addition to being free of cost to access-- they can also be modified and redistributed to meet the needs of a particular course or student population without additional permissions.
How can you tell if something is OER?
- Retain
- Reuse
- Revise
- Remix
- Redistribute
If you have any questions about a license or if a material is truly OER, please contact the 鶹 OER Librarian, Tessy Torres via email at mttorres3@utep.edu or by phone at 915-747-6723.
As long as an educational resource is free, is it OER?
- Retain
- Reuse
- Revise
- Remix
- Redistribute
If there are any restrictions on how the material can be modified, retained, or distributed, this is no longer considered OER.
If you have any questions about a license or if a material is truly OER, please contact the 鶹 OER Librarian, Tessy Torres via email at mttorres3@utep.edu or by phone at 915-747-6723.
Why do I need to report courses that use zero or low-cost course materials?
By reporting which of your classes are using zero and low-cost course materials, you're helping 鶹 stay compliant with Texas legislation.
How did 鶹 determine that “Low-Cost” equals $40 or less?
Librarians can help you find OER sources, both in ScholarWorks@鶹, the institutional repository, and through other reputable, high-quality repositories.
Who should I contact if I have questions about OER or Affordable Learning Materials?
The best person to reach out to would be 鶹’s OER Librarian, Tessy Torres. You can reach her via email at mttorres3@utep.edu or via phone at 915-747-6723.
Will all courses at 鶹 eventually be required to use OER?
Affordability and access to quality higher education will always be priorities at 鶹, but we also understand that sometimes the best materials remain commercially published textbooks. We encourage all faculty to evaluate course materials for relevancy to learning objectives and consider if any zero or low-cost materials could be used. The OER Librarian, Tessy Torres, can help in the search for quality, affordable materials. You can reach her at mttorres3@utep.edu or 915-747-6723.
Where can I share any OER I have created?
ScholarWorks@鶹 is the institutional repository, and the premier publisher and home of output created by the 鶹 community. Open to 鶹 faculty, staff, and students, the repository can host almost anything, including but not limited to dissertations, journal articles, books, and other scholarly and creative materials. You can contact Tessy Torres at mttorres3@utep.edu, or Lisa Weber at lweber@utep.edu for more information.
There are many repositories that house quality OER, which you can find on 鶹’s . Some favorites are for textbooks and and for ancillary materials. For help navigating the repositories and finding OER, please contact Tessy Torres at mttorres3@utep.edu.
Is there anyone who can help me search for OER?
For help navigating OER repositories and finding quality materials, please contact Tessy Torres at mttorres3@utep.edu or at 915-747-6723.
How can students find courses at 鶹 with affordable course materials?
Students will be able to search for courses using zero-cost and low-cost course materials in Goldmine starting Summer 2022.
- Step 1: Sign into and click the Goldmine line to look up classes to add, or look up and .
- Step 2: After you have selected a term, scroll down to the “Attribute Type” menu, where you can select “Low-Cost Textbooks” or “Zero-Cost Textbooks” (or both by holding Ctrl then clicking each option).
- Step 3: Add additional criteria to the search to narrow to specific course, instructor, time, etc.-- or skip this step to view ALL courses for the term using zero-cost or low-cost course materials.
- Step 4: Click “Class Search” to view results
Contact Us
Tessy Torres, MLIS
OER Librarian
915-747-6723
mttorres3@utep.edu
Schedule an appointment with me at