ALI Newsletter

Affordable Learning Initiative Newsletter

Edition #6, Winter 2024

CONTENTS

Digital Reading Tips for Students
Free Study Tools for Students at the Library
Spring Textbook Deadline Approaches
Using Vitalsource’s Engagement Dashboard
ALI Conducting Textbook Cost Analysis
Professional Development Opportunities

Digital Reading Tips for Students

College students are more and more likely to receive their course materials in digital formats. Faculty and staff from Academic Development, the Center for Academic Innovation, the Library, and Chemeketa Press gathered tips for making the most of your digital course materials (textbooks, reading assignments, or notes delivered electronically). These tips can be adapted and shared with students to increase effective learning with digital materials.

Make a physical set of notes. When you read print materials, your brain creates a mental map of the information that helps you remember more. When reading digital materials, creating physical notes alongside digital materials can capture some of that same brain power (Ferris Jabr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”).
Set your device to airplane mode to reduce distractions. Notifications and pop-ups are distracting! You use your device for more than just school. By temporarily shutting off notifications, you can eliminate some of the distractions a connected device can bring.
Download your textbooks. Did you know that most digital textbooks are available offline via download? That way, if you don’t have access to the internet, you have your textbooks saved to your device.
Use the tools on your device for deeper reading. Digital materials can speed up reading comprehension tasks, like looking up definitions with a highlight and click or using built-in knowledge check tools. If your digital textbooks are on Vitalsource Bookshelf, try the CoachMe tool to access practice questions as you read. You can take notes and highlight content easily, too.
Set limits for your on-screen reading. Your brain needs a break every once in a while! According to several scientific studies, college students reading digital textbooks saw the highest reading comprehension success rates when they averaged 45–55 minutes of reading before taking a break (Nancy Foasberg, “Student Reading Practices in Print and Electronic Media”).
Chunk up your reading. Look for natural breaks in your reading assignment, like chapters, sections, or subsections. Scan your assignment before you begin, identify chunks, and read. Then do a self-check of each heading. Do you feel confident in your understanding of the chunk? If you do, great! If you don’t, re-read those shorter sections to ensure you got it.

Free Study Tools for Students at the Library

The Chemeketa Library is a great one-stop shop for students who need assistance accessing study aids and materials (see hours here). The Library Textbook Collections support students by making high-cost textbooks available to borrow for an entire term. In Fall 2023, the Lending Library checked out 1,069 books directly to students. Students can even suggest textbook additions to the free Lending Library. Here’s a selection of other free services that the Library provides:

White boards with dry-erase markers are available for students to use.
Graphing calculators are available for 4-hour loans for test taking—this is great for students who use an app but need a real calculator for an in-person test.
Anatomy, chemistry, and Spanish flashcards are now available.
A skeleton model is available for students to use.

Spring Textbook Deadline Approaches!

Making plans to change textbooks from one approved text to another for Spring 2024? Contact Cary Ballew-Renfro in the Bookstore by the end of week 4 (February 2, 2024). Changes requested after the deadline may not be able to be implemented.

Please note: you can view the current authorized textbook list on the Bookstore’s Chemeketa Connects site by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.

Using Vitalsource’s Engagement Dashboard

Are your course materials delivered digitally through Vitalsource? If so, you have access to VitalSource’s Engagement Dashboard. This simple tool provides powerful insights into real-time statistics that will help you see your students' engagement levels and the completion of reading assignments. Your Engagement Dashboard shows which students open the digital textbook, how much they read, and how long they spend with the content. For a full tour of the Dashboard’s functionality, read more here.

ALI Conducting Textbook Cost Analysis—What Do You Want to Know?

In our Fall newsletter, we told you about the Fall 2022 Textbook Cost Analysis report that examined actual course materials costs at the CRN, catalog course, and program prefix levels. This ALI subcommittee is embarking on a similar cost analysis project to look at all course materials costs for 2022–23, and we want to hear from faculty, staff, and administrators. What would you like to know about course materials costs that we didn’t cover in last year’s report? If you have feedback, please submit it here.

Professional Development Opportunities

February 2, 2024, 12–1 pm: The Limit Does Not Exist: Care, Overwork, and Open Education webinar. Register here. Open education’s values-driven nature and justice-oriented goals make it both an appealing field and an area ripe for labor exploitation. How do we individually and collectively resist calls for overwork?
February 16, 2024, 12–1 pm: A Not-Boring Tour of State OER Policies webinar. Register here. Oregon’s state policies will be put in the context of the nationwide OER State Policy Tracker.
February 26, 2024: OER Course Redesign Training: Open Ed Week Sprint Registration Deadline. Redesign your course with OER in a one-week sprint in March, and earn a $750 stipend!
April 4, 2024: Co-Create and Collaborate: Unlocking Student Potential Through Open Pedagogy webinar from NISOD. Free for member organizations. Register here.

Affordable Learning Initiative Newsletter

Edition #5, Fall 2023

CONTENTS

Chemeketa is a Statewide Leader in On-Time Adoption
Winter Textbook Deadline is Coming Up
Textbook Cost Analysis
Professional Development Opportunities
Affordability in Action: Transportation Assistance

Chemeketa is a Statewide Leader in On-Time Adoption

Open Oregon Educational Resources published the first statewide report on on-time textbook adoption rates in August. This report was produced in response to HB 2919 (2021), which requires that Oregon’s public community colleges and universities prominently display or link to the estimated cost of all required course materials and fees when registration opens. The state targeted a 75% compliance rate, meaning 75% of catalog courses would have published course materials costs at the time of registration.

Chemeketa faculty and staff should be proud that our college exceeded those initial benchmarks. According to the Bookstore’s data, 97% of Chemeketa courses in 2022–23 had required materials listed when registration opened.

Chemeketa is leading the way on this important initiative thanks to our Authorized Textbook list process and faculty’s willingness to help support students wherever they can.

Winter Textbook Deadline is Coming Up

Making plans to change textbooks from one approved text to another for Winter 2024? Contact Cary Ballew-Renfro in the Bookstore by the end of week 4 (October 20, 2023). Changes requested after the deadline may not be able to be implemented.

Please note: you can view the current authorized textbook list on the Bookstore’s Chemeketa Connects site by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.

Textbook Cost Analysis

Last year, a subcommittee of the Affordable Learning Initiative examined course materials costs for students at the CRN, catalog course, and program prefix levels. The Fall 2022 Textbook Cost Analysis report was published in May, and we are happy to share it with faculty to kick off the 2023–24 year. We invite your feedback to help us improve this project in future years.

ALI encourages programs and academic units to use this information and data to inform a discussion. Look through these costs and see what jumps out at you. Celebrate your wins—there are many to choose from!

Here are a couple of scenarios that might prompt discussion:

Is one course skewing your prefix average?
For example, do most of your courses use low-cost/no-cost materials, but one or two use high-cost materials? These courses can skew your average. Consider looking at those courses and pursuing strategies to find alternative lower-cost materials.

Is one CRN skewing a course average?

For example, is there one section of a course using a high-cost text when all other sections use low-cost/no-cost materials? Could that section transition to the lower-cost options used in other sections?

In addition, members of ALI would like to talk with faculty about ways that course materials costs impact your students and how investments in lowering these costs could impact enrollment, retention, and success. Please contact Abbey Gaterud if you would like a member of ALI to speak directly with your program in the coming year.

Professional Development Opportunities

October 15, 2023: Chemeketa Press open submissions deadline. For more information, check our website or email Abbey Gaterud.
October 30, 2023: Open Oregon’s Fall 2023 Virtual OER Review Workshop
October 31, 2023, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: “Exploring Artificial Intelligence in Open Education Contexts (not so scary after all?)” Open Oregon Education Resources Webinar. Register here.
November 1, 2023: Open Oregon’s Fall 2023 Virtual OER Review Workshop
November 13, 2023, 12–1 p.m.: Creating and Modifying OER Workshop with Open Oregon Educational Resources.
November 3, 2023: Open Oregon’s Fall 2023 Virtual OER Review Workshop
December 1, 2023, 12-1 pm, Inclusive or Exclusive? Examining "Inclusive Access" Textbook Programs webinar from Open Oregon.

Affordability in Action

Sheeny Behmard, Chemeketa Math faculty, has published a developmental edition of Essential Statistics: Understanding and Using Data with Chemeketa Press. The book is a mix of original content and adapted OER materials. It aligns with the new statewide common course numbering (CCN) learning outcomes for STAT243z Elementary Statistics I (formerly MTH243), the first in a two-course statistics sequence. It is designed for Oregon students, covering only the required content in engaging, accessible language. This year, Sheeny is writing additional chapters aligning with the forthcoming CCN learning outcomes for STAT244z, the second course in the sequence. In addition, Sheeny and other math faculty are testing the book in in-person and online courses. Sheeny’s book replaces a Pearson product that is more expensive, overly complex, and difficult to read.

Affordable Learning Initiative Newsletter

Edition #4, Winter 2023

CONTENTS

Fall Term Digital Course Materials Fee Round-Up
Faculty Assistance Needed for HECC Reporting on OER
Spring Textbook Adoption was January 10
Professional Development Opportunities
Affordability in Action: Transportation Assistance

Fall Term Digital Course Materials Fee Round-Up

For Fall 2022 term, Chemeketa Bookstore took a digital-first approach to textbooks, supplying many materials digitally and billing students via the Digital Course Materials Fee (DCMF) code on their Fall term billing statement.

In the digital-first model, we delivered 234 textbooks or courseware items to 6,731 students in 838 sections, for a total of 15,697 individual enrollments. (Some students received more than one digital item.) In purchasing and delivering the materials through DCMF, the college saved students an estimated $160,656 over the cost of purchasing the digital items individually on the marketplace.

Of these 15,697 individual enrollments, we experienced an opt-out rate of 4.6%. In other words, 95.4% of students in the program participated. Even though 4.6% is a small number, it equals more than 700 opt-outs, and because there is no automatic refund system in place, the Business Office processed all these refunds by hand.

Chemeketa’s IT department is working on an automatic billing and refund system, but it will not be in place soon. During Winter term, texts that had a high opt-out rate will be offered to students as a choice of digital or paper, and not digital-first.

Throughout Fall term, students expressed how happy they were with the digital day-one model. They were thrilled that additional purchases were minimal, limited to a lab manual or other lower-cost item. They liked the new integrated website, Vitalsource’s LAUNCH, that features a personalized page for all of their course material needs.

At the same time, there were many students who wanted to spend additional money to purchase a paper edition. Their concerns were around too much screen time, inability to focus, and just liking paper for in-depth reading. Where possible, the bookstore will continue to provide paper supplements to digital texts.

Faculty Assistance Needed for HECC reporting on OER Adoptions

HB 2871, passed in 2015, requires Oregon’s public community colleges and universities to add no-cost/low-cost designations to their course schedules. HECC has issued new reporting requirements to further support the transparency of course materials cost for students at the time of registration and the Bookstore needs faculty help to meet these requirements. Going forward, faculty should report if they are using an OER (Open Educational Resource) in their classroom by the textbook adoption deadline each term, just like you would report using a commercial textbook. The Bookstore will be reporting to HECC which classes are using what OERs.

If you’ve been using OER or other free course materials in your classes but have been reporting “No Text Required” to the Bookstore, please change your adoption to report which OER is being used in each course. This will allow the Bookstore to accurately report Chemeketa’s overall OER usage and promote the hard work faculty have done to adopt affordable materials for students.

If an instructor only uses free materials, such as a self-created slide deck plus freely available articles and videos online, please report that you’ve adopted “faculty-generated free content” or a similar general statement. If you have any questions, please contact Cary Ballew-Renfro: cary.ballew.renfro@chemeketa.edu.

Spring Textbook Adoption Deadline was January 10

Making plans to change textbooks for Spring 2023? Contact Cary Ballew-Renfro in the Bookstore as soon as possible (the deadline was January 10, 2023) with your new title. Changes requested after the deadline may not be able to be implemented.

Please note: the authorized textbook process in Sharepoint could not move to the cloud during the Dashboard transition. The Bookstore is working on a new system, but in the meantime, please email Cary with any questions or concerns. You can still view the current authorized textbook list on the Bookstore’s Chemeketa Connects site by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.

Professional Development Opportunities

Office Hours with Veronica Vold, Open Education Instructional Designer every Wednesday, 9-11
January 17, 2023: Deadline to sign up for sponsored registration to the 2023 NW Regional Equity Conference (held February 22–24, 2023) via Open Oregon Educational Resources. Stipends available for PT faculty.
January 23–26, 2023: Virtual OER Review Workshop with Open Oregon. Attend the workshop, and if you write an OER review afterward, you can receive a $200 or $300 stipend. See link for full details.
January 24, 2023, 12–1 p.m.: Webinar “The Revolution of Higher Education: Through the Eyes of Students.
February 27, 2023: Deadline to register a team for Strategic Digital Accessibility Training. Institutional teams are invited to join a professional learning cohort in Spring 2023 to work with an expert digital accessibility trainer and create digital accessibility action plans that benefit their campus open education programs and beyond.

Affordability in Action

Transportation is a big affordability issue for college students. Some schools in California are subsidizing student transit passes, according to a new article from CalMatters. Closer to home, in September Cherriots began offering the Youth Zero Pass for kids and teens ages 0–18. Funding has been approved for one year by the City of Salem, the City of Keizer, and the Salem-Keizer Public Schools District.

Affordable Learning Initiative Newsletter

Edition #3, Fall 2022

CONTENTS

Equal Access: Predictable, Low-Cost Textbook Program
Winter Textbook Adoption Deadline is October 1
Professional Development Opportunities
Affordability in Action: National Study on College Affordability for Indigenous Students

Equal Access: Predictable, Low-Cost Textbook Program

Over the last few months, you’ve probably heard the name Equal Access floating around campus. Maybe you thought, “what is that?” Well, Equal Access is a digital-first textbook subscription model that the Affordable Learning Initiative (ALI) has been exploring over the last year. Equal Access provides predictable pricing and day one access to all course materials for all students, which reduces barriers for students overall.

How does it work?

Equal Access is a subscription-based model that provides students with all required ISBN-bearing course materials for day 1 delivery via Canvas at a low, flat charge on the student’s account. The proposed cost is $50 per course. Course materials are provided as digital-first products, with consumable and print-only materials included where necessary. One and two-credit courses are exempt from the course charge, but their course materials will be included as part of the program. Students have the option to opt-out of the program on a term-by-term basis and opting out is a simple click on their Vitalsource Launch page.

How did it start?

In 2021–22, Chemeketa used HERFF funds (federal pandemic relief) to give students free digital course materials for fall, winter, and spring terms. In total, $1.95 million was spent to provide materials for 17,885 students. Even as this program began, ALI discussed what the end of funding would mean for students: how could Chemeketa help ease the transition back to the retail model for buying textbooks? ALI knew that a perpetual free model wasn’t in the cards—although it is an aspiration—so we evaluated models that lowered the cost of student materials while increasing equity.

Why should I care?

ALI determined that Equal Access is the best alternative to the current transactional model. EA will lower the cost of course materials for the majority of students and impose a predictable cost of materials that currently does not exist, while guaranteeing faculty control of course materials selection. It allows students to seamlessly use financial aid resources to pay for course materials on their student account, which reduces their need to hand over hard-earned cash for course materials they aren’t convinced they need. It guarantees that students have the correct materials on day 1 of the term, making them more likely to succeed. For students, the most important feature of this program is the predictable cost. For students who need to plan out their resources to the penny, this program allows them to budget for their entire year of classes. There are no surprises at the cash register.

What happens next?

There are many benefits and challenges with this program and we’ve heard questions, enthusiasm, and skepticism at various meetings around campus: in spring and summer EA was introduced to Faculty Senate, Academic Workgroup, PCs, and a group of students from Associated Students of Chemeketa. This fall, there will be an all-campus info session on September 30 @ 1 p.m. It will be delivered in-person and via zoom, and we hope as many folks as possible will attend to learn more, ask questions, and discuss challenges.

What: Equal Access Info Session

When: Friday, September 30, 2022 @ 1:00 p.m.

Where: Salem, 3/100 and Zoom

Winter Textbook Adoption Deadline is October 1

Making plans to change textbooks for Winter 2023? Contact Cary Ballew-Renfro in the Bookstore by October 1st with your new title. Changes requested after the deadline may not be able to be implemented.

Please note: the authorized textbook process in Sharepoint could not move to the cloud during the Dashboard transition. The Bookstore is working on a new system, but in the meantime, please email Cary with any questions or concerns. You can still view the current authorized textbook list on the Bookstore Connect’s site https://chemeketa0.sharepoint.com/sites/bookstore Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Professional Development Opportunities

September 22, 2022, Keynote Address: Power and Empowerment: Honoring By Decision and Design with Andratesha Fritzgerald. A 90 minute presentation on using antiracist practices and Universal Design for Learning for a more equitable classroom.
Registration is open for the 2022 MI OER Summit, a free conference held virtually on September 29 and 30.
Trauma-informed Pedagogy in Open Education, co-hosted by Open Education Network & Rebus Community. Sept 29, 11:00-12:00 Pacific.
Creating Culturally Responsive Materials with Open Educational Resources: Beyond Commercial Publishing II, hosted by PIJIP and New America. October 6, 3:00-4:00 pm
Digital Humanities and Authentic Resources, hosted by Boise State Pathways Project. October 12, 11:00-12:00 Pacific.
Open Pedagogy As A Tool For Student Empowerment, hosted by CCCOER. October 12, 12:00-1:00 Pacific.
Fall 2022 Virtual OER Review Workshops, October 24, 26 or 27th, times vary. Open Oregon Education Resources
Copyright creepies: Trolls, tribunals, and tricky myths, October 28, 12:00-1:00 pm and Copyright for Complete Beginners, October 31, 12:00-1:00 pm, hosted by Open Oregon and with Copyright First Responders.
How Arguments Work is hosting a teacher pilot opportunity and a student contribution contest as an open pedagogy project. Student submissions are due Dec 1.
Open Ed As Enabler For Antiracism & Social Justice, hosted by CCCOER. November 9, 12:00-1:00 Pacific.
Office Hours with Veronica Vold, Open Education Instructional Designer every Wednesday, 9:00-11:00 am

Affordability in Action

The National Native Scholarship Providers (NNSPs) recently released a first-of-its-kind study that looks at the affordability of college for Indigenous students in the United States. “We want the American public and policymakers to understand the unique barriers faced by Native students as they pursue their education dreams,” Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, and one of the study’s partners, said in a press release. “These barriers can be removed through continued investment via scholarships, tuition support, and supportive partnerships. This study provides a foundation from which to explore those investments.”

Affordable Learning Initiative Newsletter

Edition #2, Spring 2022

CONTENTS

Student Success with Digital Textbooks Session
Fall Textbook Adoption Deadline is May 1
Digital Textbooks Faculty and Student Survey
Professional Development Opportunities
Affordability in Action: Chemeketa Bookstore featured in podcast

Student Success with Digital Textbooks Session

April 27, 3:00–4:00 p.m., via ZOOM Join meeting at: https://chemeketa.zoom.us/j/91760637819

A majority of Chemeketa students are using digital texts and course materials. This session offers a time to learn and share with colleagues about how we can help our students succeed with digital materials. We’ll have resources, tools, and tips to share, and would like to learn what others do to help students most effectively learn from digital texts and materials.

Hosted by Brian Mosher, Chemeketa Press and Beth Hale, CAI

Fall Textbook Adoption Deadline is May 1

Making plans to change textbooks for Fall 2022? Contact Cary Ballew-Renfro in the Bookstore by May 1st with your new title. Changes requested after the deadline may not be able to be implemented.

The Bookstore plans to stay with day one digital access for Fall 2022. If faculty haven't contacted the bookstore to request print-first by May 1st, the low-cost day-one digital model will remain the default, and a course materials charge will be placed on the student account. Students are given the option to opt-out and find course materials elsewhere.

Digital Textbooks Faculty and Student Survey

In February 2022, the Affordable Learning Initiative committee and members of the Academic Technology Workgroup designed and distributed a survey to faculty and students asking about the free digital course materials (DCM) program and how DCM affected their experience in the classroom and at Chemeketa.

We hope that faculty can use these results to inform their interactions with DCM in the future. Overall, faculty and students had a good experience with DCM in fall term. And when students did struggle, faculty were often able to help solve the problem. For instance, many students mentioned that wifi access (or the lack of) was a drawback to digital course materials. But for classes using Vitalsource digital textbooks, students can download their textbook to their devices, removing the wifi barrier. Sign up for one of CAI’s digital textbook tools workshops to further your knowledge of the technology and ways that you can help students succeed in the digital materials world.

Here are some highlights of the surveys. For full results, visit the Affordable Learning Initiative’s website.

Student Survey Highlights

67% of respondents reported that they were comfortable with DCM within the first week of the term
93% of students indicated digital course materials either had no impact on their academic performance or a positive one
About half of the respondents indicated that, prior to Fall 21, the price of textbooks and other course materials had an impact on the courses they took
78% reported they were very or somewhat likely to continue using DCM if Chemeketa were to charge a $40 flat course charge in the future
There is high awareness of highlighting and annotation tools and text-to-speech / read aloud tools within DCM
Offline access is the accessibility feature with the lowest awareness but many students who were not aware indicated they may use it in the future
Students also mentioned WIFI issues as a common drawback of DCM

Faculty Survey Highlights

86% of respondents have at least some input on the materials used in their classes
Prior to DCM, 78% of faculty reported the price of books impacted course preparations
66% of respondents reported that they were comfortable with DCM within the first week of the term
90% of faculty respondents expect their students to have materials by the first week of the term
With DCM, 90% could trust that their students had access to needed course materials
93% of faculty indicated digital course materials either had no impact on their students’ academic performance or a positive one
When asked the same questions, faculty and student responses are very similar

Professional Development Opportunities

Chemeketa Sharing Session on Student Digital Readiness (Literacy), April 27, 3:-4:00 pm, via ZOOM Join meeting at: https://chemeketa.zoom.us/j/91760637819
Register for Spring 2022 Virtual OER Review Workshops, taking place May 16-20.
Office Hours with Veronica Vold, Open Education Instructional Designer every Wednesday, 9-11

Affordability in Action

Listen in as Meredith Schreiber, Director of Auxiliary Services at Chemeketa, talks about how the Bookstore team worked to provide free digital course materials to students for academic year 2021–23 using CARES Act funding on the Verba | Vitalsource Coffee Chat podcast. To date, the program has provided $2 million in course materials to students, free of charge.

Affordable Learning Initiative Newsletter

Edition #1, Winter 2022

CONTENTS

Welcome to the Affordable Learning Initiative quarterly newsletter
Leveraging Digital Textbook Features
Spring is the Last Term for Free Textbook Program
Professional Development Opportunities
Affordability in Action: Long Beach City College

Welcome to the Affordable Learning Initiative quarterly newsletter

Hello Chemeketa faculty and staff,

Welcome to the inaugural issue of a quarterly newsletter from the Affordable Learning Initiative, a Chemeketa committee of faculty and staff from across campus. Our committee is dedicated to looking at the cost and accessibility of the college experience with a particular focus on the cost of textbooks and course materials for students.

This newsletter is dedicated to sharing affordable learning news, success stories, opportunities, and contextual information with the Chemeketa community. We all know going to college is a significant financial decision for our students, one that asks students to make significant sacrifices in other parts of their lives. We hope that by sharing new ideas, programs, and possibilities, we can help center the question of affordability in everyday decisions.

While Chemeketa has been a leader of affordable learning initiatives in Oregon, there is still much work to be done as a community.

In this first issue, you’ll learn more about tools for integrating digital course materials into your classroom and Canvas course, opportunities for professional development, and making choices about your textbooks for next year that can help your students save money.

In future terms, expect to see this newsletter at the beginning of each term. We are excited to share this with you and are interested to hear from you—what else would you like to see in this newsletter? Please reach out to Abbey Gaterud or Beth Hale with suggestions.

Leveraging Digital Textbook Features

Most Chemeketa courses now use digital course materials. Are you making good use of the additional features that digital offers? If you haven’t yet explored the assistive technology and learning tools now available to students, take a moment to consider the benefits. Students often aren’t aware of how to effectively use digital textbooks. Faculty can help by promoting features and tools, and the strategies to use them. Here is sample verbiage about digital texts to add to your syllabus or Canvas course orientation.

Read on for a few e-text features worth exploring.

Study tools are available from many publishers, offering students extra tools for practice, like flashcards or interactives. VitalSource etexts offer All About Flashcards to let them create flashcards as they read. Students can also use VitalSource Highlights and Notetaking tools while in the etext.
Offline access is an important feature for students who don’t have reliable internet access. VitalSource offers Access Content Offline With Bookshelf® Mobile and Desktop Apps. Students can even use the study tools offline, and their work will be synced when next online.
Assistive technology like text-to-speech (or read-aloud) functions and the ability to adjust font size and contrast are commonly used features.
Usage analytics are available to instructors via VitalSource, providing you with data on e-text usage, including which students access the text, and how long they spend with it. Learn more about how your VitalSource Instructor Dashboard will help you monitor student engagement and identify at-risk students.

Spring is the Last Term for Free Textbook Program

Chemeketa students are receiving free access to digital course materials during the 2021–22 school year through COVID-19 relief funds, which covers nearly $3 million in course materials via the Chemeketa Bookstore. Unfortunately, this is a one-time allocation of emergency funds, and will not be available beyond spring 2022.

But the free digital course materials program has provided students with some big benefits. The move to digital e-textbooks has lowered the cost of the materials across the board. All students have access to their digital materials on day 1 of the term via Canvas. That means that students no longer have to worry about which books their instructor chose, whether it is in stock at the Bookstore, or if the mail will come on time. Students with day 1 access are better prepared to interact with the material and hit the ground running.

So what can you do to help your students transition back to buying textbooks beginning summer term?

Continue to utilize direct digital access materials in your course. If your students had a good experience with digital course materials this year, why not do it again? By continuing to utilize this model, you will directly impact the cost of course materials for students—across the board, digital materials are cheaper for students. You will also provide them with day 1 access, allowing them to start each course with the materials to be successful. Contact Cary Ballew-Renfro (cary.ballew.renfro@chemeketa.edu) at the Bookstore to learn more.
Think about OER. Open Educational Resources are free and openly licensed course materials that you can adopt, adapt, combine, and remix to suit your course needs. OpenOregon Educational Resources is your one-stop resource for learning more about how to source OER, what to do when you find a resource that meets your needs, and connecting with other faculty around the state. Your on-campus connection to OER is Beth Hale (beth.hale@chemeketa.edu) or your friendly Chemeketa librarians.
Adopt a low-cost textbook. How much do your required course materials cost students? Have you ever totaled it up? Cary Ballew-Renfro (cary.ballew.renfro@chemeketa.edu) is the Textbook Specialist in the Bookstore and can help you source alternatives to your current course materials, or help your entire program negotiate better pricing for students for program-wide adoptions.
Write your own course materials! If you’ve been consistently unhappy with the current offerings in both the OER and commercial catalogs and you’re looking to tackle a transformative project for your courses, you should talk with Abbey Gaterud (abbey.gaterud@chemeketa.edu) at Chemeketa Press. Chemeketa Press is dedicated to helping you re-envision your classroom through the development of accessible, engaging, high-quality textbooks and course materials. Since 2015, the Press has published more than forty textbooks that have saved Chemeketa students more than $4.6 million over the cost of commercial textbooks.

It’s not too early to start thinking about next year! The deadline for course material adoptions is May 1—right around the corner in the Covid space-time continuum.

Professional Development Opportunities

Winter 2022 Virtual OER Review Workshops

January 24–28, 2022. Attend Open Oregon Educational Resources’ Winter 2022 Virtual OER Review Workshop and learn more about OER in your field. After the workshop, if you write a short review of an open textbook from the Open Textbook Library, you’ll receive a $200 stipend. You also have the option of reviewing OER not in the Open Textbook Library for a $300 stipend. Daily workshops run January 24–28, 2022.

Northwest Regional Equity Conference

February 23–25, 2022. The Northwest Regional Equity Conference aims to improve equitable, sustainable experiences and outcomes for systemically marginalized and underrepresented populations through inclusive and anti-racist strategies. General registration runs through January 30, 2022.

Webinar | February 25, 2022; 12–1 p.m. Open Oregon Educational Resources is partnering with Copyright First Responders Pacific Northwest to offer professional development on copyright. We’ll assume that you have no prior knowledge and start from scratch. By the end of this webinar, you will understand the basics of copyright, fair use, and open licenses. Bring your questions!

Office Hours | February 22, 23 & 24; 12–1 p.m. Drop into a Zoom office hour with the Copyright First Responders for one-on-one help with copyright or open licensing.

Open Ed Week Sprint: OER Course Redesign Training

March 7–11, 2022. Funding is available for Oregon community college and university faculty to participate in a one-week online, asynchronous OER course redesign training. Participants will earn $250 upon completion of training, and $500 upon completion of course redesign.

Affordability in Action: Long Beach City College

We want to leave you with this story about one school’s creative approach to helping its houseless students find a safer place to sleep at night.

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