The 10-year anniversary of OER at USask brings celebrations and opportunities!

It has been ten years since the first adoption of an open textbook in a large course. During the 2014-15 academic year, Professor Eric Micheels from the College of Agriculture and Bioresources adopted the OpenStax Economics text for Agriculture Economics. Students that year saved roughly $30,000 because Eric made this change. At the time, he said that “it makes economic sense". See this post by Dr. Micheels sharing information about his choice to adopt an open textbook.

This year, USask students are saving around $1.95 million by instructors using open educational resources (OER) instead of commercial learning materials. That savings and the 10-year anniversary of Professor Micheels adopting the open textbook are cause for celebration, but wait, there’s more!  

Since the 2014-2015 academic year, USask students have saved more than $9 million as a result of instructors using OER.  

Instructors at USask have created and or adapted more than three dozen open textbooks and ancillary resources to facilitate the use of OER at USask.  

Students in courses from the Colleges of Arts and Science, Education, Kinesiology, and Pharmacy and Nutrition have engaged in experiential learning to create OER for use by other learners and community members.

USask has used Pressbooks to create and adapt open textbooks for several years. Starting in January 2025, we’re moving from a USask-specific catalogue to a consortium with the University of Regina and Saskatchewan Polytechnic to have a shared Saskatchewan Pressbooks catalogue. The expectation is that other educational institutions in the province will join in the future.

During International Open Education Week in March 2025, USask will offer workshops around the use of OER, open pedagogy (students as creators), using related technologies, how to access funding for projects, and a celebration to mark the 10-year anniversary.

The provincial government has provided USask, UofR, and SaskPoly with annual funding for several years, which has enabled much of the OER work that’s happened in the province. 

USask has funding available for:  

1. The creation or adaptation of OER, including ancillary resources that enable a switch from commercial learning materials to OER,
2. Open pedagogy projects with learners, and
3. Moving from commercial online homework systems to alternatives. 

USask also has a variety of non-monetary supports available, such as:  

• Instructional design support.
• Basic instruction on using technologies like Pressbooks or WordPress.
• Assistance filling out the funding application.
• Assistance finding existing OER.
• Assistance finding student helpers for using the technologies.
• Assistance finding potential collaborators at other institutions.
• Consultations on open licenses.
• Guidance on how to integrate open educational practices across a program or unit.
• Guidance on how to integrate institutional or unit priorities through the use of open educational practices.
• Guidance on how to use open educational practices to help learners meet the USask Student Competencies.

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If you have any questions about OER, open pedagogy, accessing funding, or how to access any of the other supports, please email the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Image credit: DALL-E