Assessing the OER & Textbook Experience at UTSA

Please share your honest perceptions of the OER you have seen for your courses/discipline.

The instructors have used an Internet Archive version of Richard Cowen’s History of Life for GEO 1123. There have been challenges finding OER for this particular course. There were questions whether this book could be considered OER or modified in UTSA Pressbooks. The faculty primarily use the Cowen to cover the fundamental concepts and provide new reports or discoveries to students through lectures or through the Canvas course. The stipend faculty member shared her example of using an OER for Geology of National Parks to create a custom UTSA Pressbook for her geology course, embedding chapters into their online Canvas platform. This allowed students to access the material before lectures and assignments. The speaker appreciated the ability to modify the content to suit their course and noted a growing availability of open educational resources (OER) in Earth sciences, which they expect to increase in the future. The faculty feel that Cowen book is a good fit for the course even if some of the material is outdated. They are open to using OER, but there have been challenges finding OER that fit the course as well as the Cowen book. One faculty member shared that he has not used OER in his courses, but expressed the desire to revamp and redo some content for GEO 1013 and incorporate OER. The group showed interest in some Canadian authored OER that were shared during the session and highlighted that physical geology is not really location biased and that a Canadian OER could still be used for a United States course.

What criteria do you consider when adopting textbooks for your courses? How do you evaluate textbooks/learning materials for your courses?

For geology core curriculum courses, the faculty shared that it’s important to find learning materials that cover the fundamentals of geology and then the instructors can expand on those fundamentals in their teaching. Some of the faculty use this same criteria for their other non-core courses.

One faculty member shared that he primarily uses his own lectures and slides for GEO 4033: Profession of Geology course; that course doesn’t really need a textbook. He teaches two upper-division geology courses. For the engineering geology course, that faculty member uses a textbook by Terry West, a colleague with similar views on the subject. The textbook aligns well with the course content, so no additional search for materials was necessary.

One of the focus group members mentioned that he participates in workshops organized by CIRQUE focused on geoscience education, particularly those developing modules for teaching scientific methods and quantitative skills in Earth sciences. That faculty member contributed to creating materials for “The Math You Need” initiative, which addresses the lack of comprehensive textbooks for teaching quantitative geoscience concepts. These modules, covering various equations and topics, are especially useful when teaching courses that emphasize scientific method.

What are some reasons that UTSA faculty may be hesitant to adopt OER?

The time it takes to redesign a course when you adopt a new textbook is one of the major barriers. Lectures, quizzes, and assignments have to be re-done to fit a new textbook. Accessibility compliance is also a major concern especially with upcoming Title II accessibility requirements. Many faculty members are hesitant to adopt OER due to the time commitment involved, both for accessibility checks and general implementation.

Another focus group member shared that incorporating supplemental materials—like visual aids or models from external sources—can enhance a course without requiring a full textbook change or course overhaul. These additions can help students better understand and visualize complex concepts, making the learning experience more effective.

Yet another faculty member added that it’s important for faculty to thoroughly review and align materials with the course scope and assignments. Without dedicated time or release time from other duties, they feel uncomfortable using materials they haven’t fully reviewed.

What do you feel that UTSA could do to better support faculty that adopt OER?

One faculty member shared that they feel well-supported by the university library, frequently receiving helpful responses within 24–48 hours when they reach out for assistance. While they try to find resources independently, they recognize the library has access to more tools. They also highlight the significant time investment required to develop a course—citing 470 hours spent creating a National Parks course—and note that adopting a new textbook often involves creating new assessments, especially if no test bank is provided. That same faculty member emphasized that, despite support from the library and academic units, finding time to develop or adapt course materials is challenging. Faculty are already heavily committed to teaching large numbers of students, conducting research, and supervising graduate students, making it difficult to take on additional time-intensive tasks.

What ideas do you have for recognizing faculty that adopt OER? How would you like to be recognized for adopting OER?

Course release time, additional pay, and an OER teaching award were all cited as ways that UTSA could better support faculty adopting OER.

Another faculty member commented that they are motivated by a love for teaching rather than external recognition or awards. While they appreciate doing things better for their students, accolades are not a driving force, especially since they’ve already received many awards throughout their career.

Yet another faculty member echoed others’ sentiments, emphasizing that many faculty go above and beyond because they genuinely love teaching and care about their students. They suggest it would be meaningful for the university to simply acknowledge and appreciate this dedication.

• No Need for Personal Recognition: One faculty member expressed that they’ve had enough recognition and don’t personally need more, but suggested that recognition could be modeled after existing university-level awards (e.g., University Excellence Awards) to encourage broader participation.
• Institutional Recognition: Others supported the idea of formal recognition at the departmental, college, or university level, which could help normalize and incentivize OER adoption across campus.
• Inclusion in Evaluations: A suggestion was made to include OER adoption as a line item in faculty evaluation forms, allowing it to be acknowledged as part of teaching performance.
• Collaborative Contribution: One faculty member noted they would be willing to support OER efforts by reviewing or using materials created by others, even if they didn’t have time to develop content themselves.

What are some challenges that you have had adopting textbooks overall in your courses?

One faculty member highlighted the high cost of commercial textbooks as a major challenge, noting that the paleontology textbook they adopted costs around $70–75 for a single-semester course. They suggested it would be helpful if the university could provide a classroom set to reduce costs for students, especially in the absence of suitable OER alternatives.

Another faculty member stated that they haven’t  faced many challenges with adopting new textbooks, as they’ve consistently used the same ones for courses like engineering geology and Third Planet. Although new editions are released periodically—often increasing costs for students—they haven’t needed to significantly update or change their course materials.

Another faculty member stated that  a major challenge in teaching certain subjects, like quantitative methods or scientific methods, is the lack of suitable textbooks. They often rely on workshop-developed modules instead. Additionally, for rapidly evolving topics like climate change or fossil record research, textbooks quickly become outdated, making it difficult to find resources that stay current.

What are some challenges that you have had adopting OER in your courses?

One faculty member uses OER in three courses, including a National Parks course, which worked well with a UTSA Pressbook. However, they faced a challenge with the “Life Through Time” lab, where students need to print lab worksheets embedded in the OER. This makes it harder for students to access printable versions unless they go to a print shop, adding an extra step.

Another faculty member shared that adapting OER materials to fit their specific curriculum takes time and effort. They usually can’t use the resources as-is and need to carefully review and select the parts that align with their course goals.

Yet another faculty member, who hasn’t used OER, expressed concern about how OER materials will align with upcoming accessibility requirements. They questioned how these resources will integrate with the additional accessibility updates faculty are expected to implement in their courses.

What are some ways UTSA can better support UTSA student awareness of required textbooks prior to Class Day One?

One faculty member noted that many students in their Third Planet class are incoming freshmen who often seem unfamiliar with basic university tools like Canvas or the syllabus. They suggest this confusion may stem from limited orientation and believe that more experienced students, like juniors or seniors, are likely better equipped to navigate course resources. Discussion continued around parsing out the student survey data by classification to identify whether upperclassmen are better able to navigate university systems that provide information on course textbooks as compared to freshmen.

What are some ways UTSA can better support textbook affordability for UTSA students?

The faculty discussed four areas related to textbook affordability:

Textbook Costs and Student Behavior

• One faculty member initially assumed textbooks cost over $200, but a second faculty member clarified that new editions are typically $80–90.
• Many students avoid buying new editions due to cost, opting for older versions or skipping the purchase entirely.
• Faculty acknowledged that older editions often contain similar content with only minor changes like page numbers or illustrations.

Faculty Approaches to Textbooks

• Some instructors recommend textbooks but don’t require the latest editions, encouraging students to find cheaper, used copies.
• One faculty member expressed skepticism toward the textbook publishing industry, criticizing frequent new editions as a profit-driven tactic.

Data on Textbook Purchases:

• One faculty member asked whether there is data on how many students actually buy textbooks.
• OER Coordinator explained that while UTSA doesn’t currently have comprehensive data, the university bookstore (Follett) is contractually obligated to provide it. However, data sharing has been inconsistent.

OER and Legislative Context

• OER Coordinator also referenced Texas Senate Bill 810 (SB-810), which requires institutions to track and disclose courses using Open Educational Resources (OER).
• UTSA complies with this law but is working to improve its manual and labor-intensive tracking process to better support transparency and affordability for students.

Prior to today, were you aware of UTSA’s Free Textbook and Low-Cost Textbook filters, shown below?

One faculty member was aware of the UTSA textbook filters; the other two were not aware.

Prior to today, how familiar were you with the UTSA OER reporting process?

One faculty member was aware of the UTSA textbook filters; the other two were not aware. One faculty member suggested making the links to reports and the forms more accessible by integrating them into Canvas, since instructors spend much of their time there. They mention occasionally missing related emails and believe having the links in Canvas would improve convenience and visibility.

Are there any other experiences, successes, challenges, or resources related to textbooks or OER that you’d like to share?

None of the focus group participants had anything else to share.