Some elements on this guide are remixed from the ASCCC OERI resources page and Skyline College's ZTC page.
The high cost of student textbooks is an ongoing issue, so it's well worth our time as faculty to use resources and tools that will make courses more affordable and accessible to our students. These options will increase first-day access to required course materials and save students time and money.
OER: Open Education Resources | ZTC: Zero Textbook Cost | |
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Definition | OER is a type of course material. OERs are free or low cost teaching and learning materials that are licensed, often under an OER License term, to allow users to retain a copy of the content and reuse, revise, remix and redistribute it. OERs can include textbooks, videos, tests, entire courses, course modules, and syllabi. Why use Open Educational Resources? OERs are free, ready-to-use content for your classes. Creators and users are free to retain rights, reuse content, remix content, revise content, or redistribute content. | ZTC is a type of course/course designation. Zero textbook cost (ZTC) means that students do not incur any costs for purchasing textbook course material (courses still may have material costs, just not for textbooks). Zero-cost to the students does not guarantee zero-cost to the institution, i.e. subscription databases, library equipment loans. To create a ZTC course, instructors might use Open Educational Resources (OER); Open Access, Creative Commons, and public domain materials, along with teacher-created materials and electronic resources owned or licensed by the CSM Library. |
Types of Materials |
OER materials may be:
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ZTC course materials may include:
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Where to Get Help |
Getting OER Help at CSM:
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Getting ZTC Help at CSM:
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Explore OER and No-cost Resources at the CSM Library
Helpful article from Wiley Education Services outlining the steps for finding quality OER: