Wright State University’s Affordable Learning Initiatives

Many units are working together to reduce the cost of course materials for Wright State students, maintain the quality of content, and protect academic freedom. In the summer of 2017, representatives from the faculty, administration, student leadership, and the campus bookstore studied the issue and recommended next steps including the formation of an OER committee under the auspices of the Faculty Senate.

Affordability Initiatives
•    The University is currently piloting an inclusive courseware model for nine courses. Initial results from the pilot project report student textbook savings of more than $56,000, an average savings of 40%.  Plans are to expand the model to twenty courses for the fall 2018 term and to additional courses beginning in 2019.
•    The Faculty Senate has approved an auto-adopt policy that says that the bookstore can assume that faculty who regularly teach a course plan to use the same textbook as they have in the past unless they notify the bookstore of a change by an agreed-upon deadline.

Advocacy Initiatives
•    The University Libraries have joined the Open Textbook Network under the auspices of OhioLINK. With the Center for Teaching and Learning, they will host workshops to introduce faculty to it.
•    The University Libraries will create a LibGuide on affordable learning resources and add information about affordable learning to existing faculty support pages on the Libraries’ website.
•    The University will form an OER Committee under the auspices of the Faculty Senate.

Creation Initiatives
•    Wright State can host OER’s created by Wright State faculty in CoreScholar, its institutional repository. These can also be made available through OhioLINK’s OER Commons.

Alternative Textbook Programs
•    Librarians are available to work with faculty who wish to identify alternative texts, including using content already licensed by the University Libraries, for their classes.