Salem State now has an online reporting system through the Faculty Center portal for Open Educational Resources (OER) and Textbook Affordability. The Massachusetts Board of Education requires that State Universities report annually on OER and Textbook Affordability.
You can report your use of OER, no-cost, or low-cost course materials (under $50) in the Faculty Center of the Student Information System (SIS) via Polaris. Once in Faculty Center, open the tab Open Educational Resources in the left-hand navigation bar. (It is just below the tab Faculty Work Assignment, so you can verify your workload while you are there.)
Click here or on the icon for instructions for completing this reporting.
Why report this? There is no intention on the part of the Board of Education or Salem State University to compel faculty to move to OER or low-cost materials. The data may be used in aggregate to advertise to potential students that Salem State is committed to affordability. Also, it is possible that when the data collection becomes robust, Salem State may be able to use this data to strategically assist students at critical points in their program where they may experience high material costs. To the extent that either OER or low-cost materials are appropriate for courses, this effort seeks to reduce the cost of attendance for students to support admissions and retention.
You may report for both Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 if you have already determined your required course materials for the spring semester.
The deadline to report for Fall 2023 is December 15,2023. There will be another chance to report Spring data next semester, but please report Spring 2024 now if you are able.
Thank you for your assistance in the collection of this data.