UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new search option added to LionPATH, Penn State’s student information system, for Spring 2024 indicates that a course section’s required texts costs are free or low-cost, or under $50. The designation will enable students to understand required course text costs at the point of registration.
This change, referred to as a course marker, is a result of work by a One Penn State 2025 Guiding Principle 3 Subcommittee and aligns with the University’s strategic plan foundation Enabling Access to Education.
“Completing the Course Marking Initiative is an important step toward the University’s access and affordability goals and something our student government organizations have been asking for,” said Subcommittee Chair Ann H. Taylor, senior assistant dean for distance learning, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
Many required course materials will be available as high-quality open and low-cost educational resources (OER) made possible through Penn State University Libraries and Teaching and Learning with Technology.
The course marker attribute is searchable to enable students and course schedulers to select courses that meet the criteria of low or no cost beginning with the Spring 2024 registration period. The attribute is listed as “Required Text Cost” in LionPATH under “Additional Search Criteria” with an additional “Course Attribute Value” split between no-cost and low-cost options. The term “required text” does not include costs for technology and supplies that also may be required for course participation.
While the new attribute is available for all classes University-wide, eight Commonwealth Campuses have volunteered to pilot it so the subcommittee can receive formal feedback. They include Penn State Abington, Altoona, Beaver, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton, Lehigh Valley, Mont Alto and Wilkes-Barre.
Prior to introducing the course marker attribute, the Guiding Principle 3 Subcommittee sought input from the Open and Affordable Educational Resources (OAER) Working Group, Undergraduate Education’s Administrative Council on Undergraduate Education, several Faculty Senate standing committees and the OAER Working Group’s Instructional Advisory Group and Student Task Force. In addition to Taylor, subcommittee members include Tryphena Miska, Office of the University Registrar; Tom Fankhauser, Barnes & Noble; and Corey Wetherington, University Libraries.
“Open and affordable educational resources are but one of several Open at Penn State initiatives the University Libraries is championing with Penn State and other higher education partners to lower or eliminate barriers to access to high-quality online information resources,” Rebecca Waltz, University Libraries associate dean for learning and engagement, said.
“Instructors interested in adopting OER for their courses are encouraged to visit Penn State’s OER website, contact their subject liaison librarian or email the Open Education Resources Team at oer@psu.libanswers.com,” she added.
The University Libraries partners with Teaching and Learning with Technology to develop and deliver OER and affordable course content and offer faculty development support. In January 2017, University Libraries joined the Open Textbook Network, located at the University of Minnesota's Center for Open Education. Open education support is offered in the following areas: assessment and discovery of OER; adopting, adapting or creating OER; open and OER outreach; pressbooks; Creative Commons licensing; and the Open Textbook Network. In addition, the Repository for Open and Affordable Materials (ROAM), launched in 2022 and hosted by the University Libraries, provides high-quality educational materials created by Penn State faculty that are free and open for all to use.
In a related initiative, the University Libraries recently received a prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to lead three Big Ten Academic Alliance member libraries in the piloting of a model for open-source online homework delivery systems. Its aim is to enable the expansion of OER programs to include support of open-source supplemental course content, such as workbooks, that many faculty need to consider using free and low-cost OER as their students’ course texts.
Detailed information about the Course Marking Initiative can be found on the Course Markings website, and questions/comments can be directed to Ann Taylor at atb3@psu.edu.