03/13/2025
By Julie Nash
We are continuing efforts to integrate Open Educational Resources (OER) course attributes into our Student Information System (SIS) for summer and fall 2025. Please help us by answering the survey or by placing your order for course materials for summer and fall 2025 (details below).
Please select one of the following by March 21:
Option #1: OER Course Materials Survey
- Please participate in a survey based on your involvement with Open Educational Resources, no cost or low-cost course materials by March 21. If your required course materials are over $50, you do not need to respond to this survey.
Option #2: Bookstore Orders
- If you plan to use course materials in summer or fall 2025, please place your order with the bookstore by March 21. This will ensure that students receive the best prices when selling used textbooks and ensures that there is a sufficient supply of books available next semester.
If a course you expected to see is missing, please verify your course details with your department chair and request an update to the Course Master before completing the survey. Once updated, please return to complete this survey, if possible. We are currently using a tentative SIS schedule to prepare this information ahead of student registration.
OER Course Attributes in SIS:
The following course attributes will be added to your course listing in SIS according to your responses:
- NO COST BOOKS (UML OER): All required course materials are no cost to students. This attribute applies if you don’t have required course materials or if you’re using OER, free or library resources (which provide unlimited simultaneous access).
- LOW COST BOOKS (UML OER): All required course materials total $50 or under. This attribute is based upon the pre-tax retail price of any form of the course materials charged at the campus bookstore. If you plan to use new course materials and don’t know if they’re $50 or under, please provide your ISBN to Dante_Hebert@uml.edu for assistance with pricing. Note that prices offered by other third-party vendors such as Amazon.com should not be considered due to price fluctuation and uncertainty of stock availability.
The addition of OER course attributes will provide transparency for students and allow them to make informed choices based on affordability. This initiative is a campus priority that reflects the value we place on affordable and accessible education.
- The biggest sponsors of this initiative are the Student Government Association (SGA) and MASSPIRG. They were also the sponsors of the past three annual OERscar events. SGA has presented this initiative to Faculty Senate and have been strong advocates for low-cost textbooks.
- Students can currently compare textbook costs easily through the bookstore portal. This filtering option will further streamline the process, though it doesn't offer information students couldn't already access.
- This initiative is part of a mandate from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE). On Oct. 22, 2019, the DHE approved recommendations that came out of an OER working group. These DHE-approved recommendations include the following:
- "OER courses should be designated in the course management systems for all public higher education institutions so that the use of OER may be encouraged by faculty and students and tracked and reported."
- We are mandated to report to the state the amount of money our students saved by using low- and no-cost textbooks, and the DHE has provided a guide to implementation (OER Course Marking Implementation Guide). Read the latest DHE report on where we are as a state.
Thank you in advance for your involvement in this project, as it will directly impact student success at UMass Lowell.
Please login to the OER Course Materials survey with your UMass Lowell credentials, and take the survey by March 21. It should take about five minutes of your time.
Please email OER@uml.edu if you have questions or comments.