Make Your Class Affordable
Many faculty members across USC have converted traditional courses to zero cost courses. How can you do the same? There's no one answer for everyone, but you can use a mix of Open Educational Resources, library-licensed resources, and items freely available or in the public domain on the web. Don't get discouraged if you do not immediately see an open textbook that fits your needs. A librarian can help you locate alternate resources to make your class affordable.
Using OER
Using Open Educational Resources (OER) is one way to make your class affordable. Most OER are funded by governments, foundation grants, or universities and are created, edited, and peer-reviewed by academics, ensuring that their quality is comparable to traditional textbooks. While many OER are created for lower level, high-enrollment courses, more are being developed for higher-level specialized courses. To locate OER to use in your classes, visit http://guides.library.sc.edu/OER/opentextbooks.
Using Library Licensed Resources
While library-licensed resources are not OER and may come with copyright and licensing restrictions, using materials available through your library can save your students money. The library offers e-books, databases, and journals that can be easily linked to and freely accessed through Blackboard or your syllabus.
Course Materials Support
The library will scan library materials or find links to resources for you at no cost in Blackboard. We will also address copyright concerns connected to posting these materials. To provide this service, we need a list of the reading assignments as well as the dates of the assignments.
- Course Materials SupportSend your syllabus to request links in Blackboard for articles, streaming videos, book chapters, and ebooks.
- 2023 SCoer WinnersLearn about the 2023 SCoer winners.
- 2022 SCoer WinnersLearn about the 2022 SCoer winners.
- 2021 SCoer WinnersLearn about the 2021 SCoer winners.
- 2020 SCoer WinnersLearn about the 2020 SCoer winners.
- 2019 SCoer WinnersLearn about the 2019 SCoer winners.
- 2018 SCoer WinnersLearn about the 2018 SCoer winners.
Statewide Initiatives
Learn about statewide initiatives to help you adopt affordable resources offered by the Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL). PASCAL is currently accepting applications for the Professors for Affordable Learning Award. Learn more from the PASCAL website.
Get Help
We are happy to offer a syllabus review service to help you locate affordable resources. Please fill out the template provided in the email below:
Email: dillarda@mailbox.sc.edu