Metropolitan State University of Denver has a course-marking initiative to help students identify courses that are no-cost or low-cost ($40 or less) for materials at the time of registration.
Action for faculty
If you plan to teach one or more spring courses that meet one of these designations, please fill out a course-marking survey so Vince Werner in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office can add appropriate attributes to your course(s). Most faculty members complete the survey in about three minutes.
Faculty members are encouraged to fill out the survey with spring-course cost information by Oct. 16, if possible, so attributes can be added before students begin enrolling. However, course-marking surveys may be filled out later if needed. If you use Open Educational Resources in the course, please help us with reporting for our state OER grant by including the name and a link to any OER extensively used in the course.
General information and opportunity
Studies have shown that some students take fewer courses per semester when there is a high cost for materials. Surveys of MSU Denver students conducted last spring and in fall 2021 found 19% of students reported having taken fewer courses in a semester due to course-material costs. Students can search for courses with no-cost or low-cost-for-materials attributes in the class scheduler, and students and faculty members can see the attributes when searching classes in the class schedule.
Some faculty members achieve a no-cost-for-materials course by adopting OER, which include openly licensed textbooks and other openly licensed course materials.
To learn more
. . . about open textbooks and where to look for materials for your courses, and earn a $200 stipend writing a review of an open textbook attend the workshop:
- Oct. 6 from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
If you have any questions, contact Emily Ragan, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and chair of the OER Taskforce, or Vince Werner.