UNM OER Initiative expected to save students over $400,000 this academic year

The University of New Mexico's Open Educational Resources (OER) Initiative has made significant strides since its inception in the spring of 2023. Collaborating with faculty, the initiative has championed the adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER at UNM and two other New Mexico colleges. Projections based on historical enrollment and textbook costs estimate student savings from the OER initiative to be between $466,000 and $486,000 for the Academic Year 2024-2025.

In the spring of 2023, Jennifer Jordan, UNM's OER librarian, with the support of the OER Working Group and Elisha Allen, director of Online Strategies and Academic Technologies crafted a $2.125 million grant proposal for the Department of Education's Open Textbooks Pilot Program. This proposal led to a successful grant award in the fall of 2023, which funded the establishment of the New Mexico OER (NMOER) Consortium. The founding members of the NMOER Consortium include UNM, Santa Fe Community College and Central New Mexico Community College.

The grant outlines a three-year plan to develop an OER hub in partnership with multiple New Mexico Higher Education Institutions, workforce partners, and departments within UNM. Significantly, the grant provides support resources for OER material development through a collaboration with the University of New Mexico Press. Year one of the grant focuses on the creation of OER by faculty, year two on piloting and refining these resources, and year three on expanding the consortium to other higher education institutions across the state. Due to the excitement and visibility of these OER initiatives this grant has generated, additional faculty and institutions are expressing interest in participating in this initiative.

More information about the consortium and UNM's OER catalog can be found at the NMOER Pressbooks' website. Initial courses receiving funding include General Chemistry I for STEM Majors and the corresponding lab (CHEM 1215 & 1215L), General Chemistry II for STEM Majors and the corresponding lab (CHEM 1225 & 1225L), Quantitative Analysis Lecture and Laboratory (CHEM 2310C), and Teaching Writing to Children and Adolescents (LLSS 430).

Preceding the federal grant, UNM's OER initiative received some start-up funding through $100,000 legislative allocation in FY2024 to further OER material development. This led to a call for proposals in fall 2023, offering faculty stipends and support to create affordable textbook alternatives. This start-up funding allowed UNM to demonstrate existing momentum in the federal grant application and to build on successful efforts when the federal grant was awarded.

Through the initial state funding, the UNM English Department transitioned its core writing program to an OER-based curriculum in fall 2023, which reduced textbook costs for approximately 3,500 students per semester. This move saved students around $96,500 in its first semester, with recurring savings in every future semester that uses these OER materials. Over the summer of 2024, English instructors revised the first edition of their textbook based on feedback from their pilot. A condensed and printable version has gone live in time for the fall of 2024.

Faculty in the following courses developed OER materials with funding from the state legislature:

• Architectural Theory (ARCH 624 ) - piloting in Fall 2025
• Composition Series (ENGL1110, 1110X, 1110Y, 1120)
• Dysphagia (SHS 517)
• Heritage Spanish (SPAN 1110)
• History of Art I (ARTH 2110)
• Introduction to Latin American Studies (LTAM1110)
• Introduction to Medical Spanish (SPAN 2420)
• Swahili I (SWAH 1110)
• World Literature I (ENGL 2650)

In an effort to maintain the momentum of the OER initiative and expand the number of students and faculty served, grant-funded hiring for new positions is underway. UNM IT's Academic Technologies department has hired a Technical Analyst 3 to assist with Pressbooks software implementation and integration with Canvas courses so that students and faculty can access OER materials seamlessly. Hiring for a program coordinator, multimedia specialist, and editor position is also currently in progress. Faculty at Central New Mexico Community College and Santa Fe Community College are actively developing and piloting their OER curricula, funded by the grant, in the upcoming fall semester.

Thus far, the OER initiative has been able to make substantial progress on campus and in the New Mexico community. With the creation, adoption, and adaptation of OER, UNM aims to make education more accessible and affordable for students and to allow educators to have more direct control over the content and materials used in their courses. Through OER, faculty have the freedom to tailor their materials based to respond to their specific learning objectives, New Mexico's cultural heritage, and the specific needs of New Mexico students. UNM will be participating in the annual International Open Access Week (October 21 - 27) and will be holding events throughout the week for students, staff, faculty, and community members to learn more about open access and open educational resources.

Learn more about the OER initiative at oer.unm.edu.

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