OER Support for UTSA Faculty

Course Markings @ UTSA

Texas Senate Bill 810, Open Educational Resources

            In part, S.B. No. 810 amends Section 51 of the Texas Education Code with the aim of encouraging the use of open educational resources (OER) at Texas public institutions of higher education.  The bill defines OER as:

. . . a teaching, learning, or research resource that is in the public domain or has been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use, adaptation, and redistribution of the resource by any person [emphasis added].  The term may include full course curricula, course materials, modules, textbooks, media, assessments, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques, whether digital or otherwise, used to support access to knowledge.

            The bill employs three methods to support the use of OER in higher education, including: (1) requiring statutory changes related to course listings and textbooks, and reasonable efforts to disseminate information to students regarding courses using OER, (2) establishing a state-wide grant program to encourage faculty to use OER, and (3) requiring that a study be conducted to determine the feasibility of a state repository for OER.

            The impact of the passage of S.B. No. 810 on UTSA is related to the required changes to the course schedule and textbook lists, as summarized in the chart below.

S.B. 810

Action

Application

Amends Texas Education Code Section 51.452

  • An institution of higher learning or college bookstore must include information on the course schedule/textbook list as to whether a course textbook is an OER.
  • If the course schedule with a textbook list is published on an internet website that provides a search function, the institution or bookstore must ensure that a search can be made for courses with OER, or provide a searchable list of courses with OER.

Spring 2018 semester

Amends Texas Education Code Section 51.453

  • An institution must make reasonable efforts to disseminate to students information about the availability of courses and sections using OER.

Spring 2018 semester

Guide to Low Cost Textbooks at UTSA