CSU’s Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) initiative enables campuses to provide more affordable educational content for students.
CSUN is no stranger to helping students find ways to save money on textbooks and curricular materials. The eText initiative was launched in 2013 to aid faculty in creating OERs. Outside of eTexts, some instructors have curated content for students to use. U100 used to require a $75 course reader, which they have replaced with an eText and supplementary materials. The only required book is the common read, which is typically less than $20 and also available at the library. Follett introduced the textbook rental program several years ago, and it recently expanded to include the rental of digital textbooks, saving students roughly 50%. For the last several years, the Oviatt Library has received funds from the Campus Quality Fee to purchase reserve textbooks for classes with high textbook costs and large enrollment.
Affordable Learning Solutions is a natural extension of these efforts to continue helping students access materials and be successful at CSUN. The AL$ Initiative at CSUN is committed to educating faculty on open educational resources, assisting faculty with finding quality low or no cost content, and supporting faculty as they redesign their courses. Check out CSUN's Academic Senate Resolution AL$/AB-798.
There is a misconception that resources that are free are not high quality and this is not true. There are many repositories and publishers that offer peer-reviewed resources. Although Open Educational Resources (OERs) are relatively new learning resources, several studies have compared student learning outcomes between traditional textbooks and OERs, and many have found either no significant difference in student learning or performance, or have found improvements in student learning. For more research, see the Open Education Group.
You are supporting student success by participating in AL$ because you are
reduce costs for students and bridge opportunity gaps
create more interactive, collaborative learning experience using online resources
tailor educational resources to fit your needs
California Senate Bill 1359 requires CSU campuses “to clearly highlight, by means that may include a symbol or logo in a conspicuous place on the online campus course schedule, the courses that exclusively use digital course materials that are free of charge to students and may have a low-cost option for print versions.” Look for the following symbol in Class Search to identify zero-cost course materials.
Contact Robert Munck from Campus Store at 0150txt@follett.com to make sure the zero cost symbol is indicated in your course. An example:
The Oviatt Library, Campus Store, CSU’s Merlot system, and publishers like OpenStax, provide information, tools, and resources to get started using more affordable course materials. Check out the Finding Affordable Materials tab on this guide for resources.
Faculty: Check out the Getting Involved section of this website. Contact any member of the AL$ team directly or fill out this Google Form and a member of AL$ will contact you.
Students: Encourage your instructors to consider Affordable Learning Solutions using this website and become active in your campus Student Government to be an advocate of Affordable Course Materials. Contact Yi Ding at yi.ding@csun.edu or Lindsay Brown at lindsay.brown@csun.edu to participate in your campus AL$ initiatives.
