City College launched its Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative in Fall 2017. That same year, the Chancellor, in collaboration with the Academic Senate, created a task force to support faculty interested in adopting open and affordable course materials. Today, the initiative is supported by the OER Coordinator and the OER Librarian, the City College Library, the Academic Senate’s OER Committee, and the dean over the School of Library, Academic Resources, Educational Technology, and Online Programs--—all working together to help instructors find, use, and develop free, high-quality learning materials for their courses.
Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) refers to digital textbooks that are completely free for students. At City College, many instructors are choosing to adopt ZTC materials—often created using Open Educational Resources (OER)—to help reduce the financial burden of course materials. As the cost of traditional textbooks continues to climb, more classes are turning to ZTC options to provide an affordable and accessible alternative.
Low Textbook Cost (LTC) means that course materials will not incur a cost that exceeds $50.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are free and easy-to-use materials for teaching and learning. They are either in the public domain or shared under special licenses, like Creative Commons, that allow people to use, share, and even change them. OER gives students high-quality learning materials at no cost, so they don't have to buy costly textbooks or subscriptions.
OER Materials may include:
- Textbooks
- Course readings, articles, and journals
- Course packs
- Lab manuals
- Quizzes
- Streaming videos
- Virtually any other material used for educational purposes