Affordable Course Materials

The State of Washington RCW 28B.10.590 defines affordable course materials as every required course material costing under $50 in 2021 dollars.

These materials can include a wide variety of resources to help reduce the cost for students. These can include but are not limited to:

1. Open Educational Resources (OER)
2. Open Access (OA) articles and textbooks
3. Library licensed eBooks
4. Library licensed journal articles
5. Professional websites
6. Unpublished professor created materials

The cost of textbooks continues to increase for students (increasing 87.5% between 2006 and 2016)i. At the time of the 2019 Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) report, “Open Educational Resources & The Cost of Required Course Materials in Four-Year Universities,” Central Washington University had the second most expensive required course material costs in the state of Washington. The urgency to address our textbook models at CWU comes at a time when our independent bookstore is at a crossroads in service models to stay financially viable. A University of Georgia study found a correlation between the use of OER and student success (Colvard, Watson, & Park, 2018). The affordable course material landscape can be complicated and difficult to navigate, but CWU Libraries is positioned to assist faculty in finding alternatives to expensive textbooks and a reliance on inclusive access models. This webpage provides an overview of the resources and services CWU Libraries already has in place, as well as upcoming opportunities.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, College tuition and fees increase 63 percent since January 2006 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/college-tuition-and-fees-increase-63-percent-since-january-2006.htm (visited April 13, 2026).

• Participate in the OER Canvas class to learn more about what OER is and how to implement it. Contact the Affordable Course Materials Librarian, Anna Crosswhite about enrolling in this self-paced course.
• Check out our Open Educational Resources research guide.
• See our Instruction and Course Support page for more ideas.
• Get in touch with the Affordable Course Materials Librarian, Anna Crosswhite.

CWU faculty are already making a dent in textbook affordability by implementing OER and library first materials in their classes. The group of OER Champions grows every year as more faculty review and implement these materials in their classes! We appreciate our OER Champions and love celebrating them! Learn more about what they’re doing.

Yingbin Ge

Dr. Yingbin Ge is a Distinguished Professor in the Chemistry Department at Central Washington University. He authors an open‑access physical chemistry textbook that substantially reduces student expenses, saving each learner an estimated $300 over the full 12‑credit physical chemistry sequence. Recognized for its clarity and scholarly rigor, the textbook has been reviewed by faculty at CWU, Indiana State University, and Oregon State University. Since its adoption in Fall 2022, this book has made a positive academic and financial impact on many chemistry students over the past four years.

Bruce Palmquist

Dr. Bruce Palmquist is a Professor in the Departments of Physics and Science and Mathematics Education at Central Washington University. Bruce has used OER in PHYS 101 since Summer of 2018 and in PHYS 111 since Fall 2014. In the 2024-2025 academic year, the use of OER impacted 106 students with an estimated student savings of $10,600.

"Using high quality Open Education Resources available online, such as OpenStax, means I can choose a comprehensive text and know that all students have access before day one. I can do a quick reading assignment right away, see which students are engaged, and reach out to those who aren't."

-Dr. Bruce Palmquist.

The OER book review workshop provides faculty with the opportunity to learn about OER, immerse themselves in an OER textbook, and write a review for an OER textbook on the Open Textbook Library. In winter 2025, faculty were provided $500 towards professional development funds. 25 faculty signed up and there was 100% attendance. 80% of faculty completed the book review. We plan to offer the workshop again winter 2027.

Do not just take our word for it or the statistics, hear from a faculty member the impact of the book review.

"As a new faculty member, workshops have been invaluable in helping me connect with campus resources and discover new tools that I can integrate into my teaching. For example, I previously didn't know what was involved in creating free online educational resources or where to look for them, but now I do and have incorporated them into my classes when possible. This creates a more equitable class environment where students can all access the textbook for free from the first day of class. In addition, the associated professional development funds support me in attending my field's annual conference so that I can stay current in the field and provide students with the most relevant and up-to-date information."

Davi Vitela-Elliott, Lecturer, Child Development & Family Science

The summer 2026 OER Course Redesign Faculty Workshop is an opportunity for faculty to learn about adopting OER, redesign a course using an OER for fall 2026, and earn a stipend. The workshop will take place June 16-18, 2026, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Please note that this workshop will take place in person. Faculty can apply to complete one of two project types, listed below, to earn up to a $1,500 stipend. Applications will be reviewed by the CWU Libraries Affordable Course Materials (ACM) Taskforce, and faculty will be notified whether their project is accepted. The workshop is limited to eight faculty in order to provide sufficient support.

Application Opens: January 15th, 2026
Application Closes: May 1st, 2026
Decision Communicated: May 15th, 2026

Project Types:

1. OER Adoption- Adopt an existing OER textbook without making changes to the content ($1,000 stipend)
   1. Example: Adopt OpenStax Precalculus as your textbook and redesign your precalculus course.
2. OER Adoption & Ancillary Creation- Adopt an existing OER textbook and develop ancillary materials for the course (quizzes, test banks, assignments, lecture slides, or lab manuals). The ideal outcome is a Canvas course shell that will be openly licensed and shared in the open community. ($1,500 stipend)
   1. Example: Adopt OpenStax Precalculus as your textbook, redesign your precalculus course, and create a workbook, test bank, and in-class worksheets.

Project Requirements:

• Tenure-track, annual non-tenure-track, or multi-year contract non-tenure-track faculty.
• Agreement that the faculty member will use the OER textbook for 2 academic years.
  • If a switch needs to be made, it will need to be another OER or a library-licensed material and advertised through the bookstore.
• Letter from the department chair that indicates in good faith the professor will teach the same course in the following academic year.
• OER textbook(s) must be chosen and submitted by the bookstore deadline for fall. The deadline is TBD. For fall 2025, the deadline was August 1st.
• Course redesign completed and relevant fall deliverables submitted by September 18, 2026.
• Winter deliverables are due by March 1st, 2027.
• Course materials in addition to the OER must cost $50 or less- lab materials, art materials, etc. *Exceptions could be made depending on the situation.
• Strong consideration will be given to courses with a high impact, for example high enrollment, taught often, or expensive textbooks(s).
  • Example: 25+ students taught a minimum of 2-3 quarters per year.

Deliverables: The stipend is paid after the deliverables are submitted near the end of winter quarter 2027. They must be submitted to the ACM librarian.

• Fall Quarter 2026- Due September 18th, 2026
  • Course Redesign Workshop Review- Complete a survey about the June workshop
  • Syllabus
  • Curriculum
  • Ancillary Materials (If applicable based on project type)
    • Ancillary materials must meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines.
    • Ancillary materials must be licensed under a Creative Commons License.
• Winter Quarter 2027- Due by March 1st, 2027
  • Submit a short project evaluation reflecting on your experience implementing OER. Please include experience finding an OER, your experience changing your curriculum, lessons learned, teaching impacts, SEOI reflections, and the impact on student performance.
  • Present to your department about your experience changing the course textbook to an OER.
  • Participate on a faculty panel about your experience flipping a course and using an OER.

2026 Summer OER Course Redesign Faculty Workshop Application

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