Zero Textbook Cost Resources (ZTC/OER/LTC)

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are called that because they are free and openly available. Anyone can view, download, or use them. This bolsters equity of access in a number of ways:

• Materials are available on day 1 of your class, regardless of someone's ability to purchase textbooks
• Materials can be provided and accessed in different ways. An OER textbook can be printed or accessed online.

This is a great start, but there are many other considerations to ensure that OERs are as equitable as possible. There are many accessibility concerns that must be addressed when creating instructional content, including alt image tags, consistent use of headers, and more.

It is important to remember that not all students own laptops or have consistent internet services at home. While providing online OERs can better serve our students from an affordability standpoint, students may need support or instructions to print or download those books for offline access. The MVC library often prints a copy of ZTC textbooks when the budget is available and when we are notified that you are using ZTC textbooks.

With most textbooks and other for-cost educational resources, you cannot customize them to suit our students. With OERs, you can often edit and customize those textbooks to fit your class perfectly; including adapting them to better represent our diverse student body. By including underrepresented voices and perspectives in course content, you can help to engage students and bolster the inclusivity of your course.

Centering diversity and inclusion has a number of benefits including:

• Engaging your students better
• Sharing content that appeals to instructors in various educational settings
• Creating a more interesting reading and learning experience

Basic Practices to Help Center Diversity and Inclusion:

• Citation: Consider which authors, researchers, and organizations you are including. Aim to diversify your references where possible.
• Use diverse contexts and examples, and avoid stereotypes:
  • Use examples that include a variety of people and situations; include showing underrepresented people in positive lights such as in positions of authority
  • Use real scenarios that address diverse situations
  • Avoid negative stereotypes or sensitive subjects unless necessary for the subject matter
  • Avoid making assumptions about the reader's prior knowledge, especially around cultural knowledge
• Ensure images reflect diverse people and intersectionality. Consider the roles those figures are shown in.
• When using personal names in examples and exercises, include diverse names representing various origins, ethnicities, genders, etc.
• Include a variety of pronouns, including gender-neutral pronouns
• Avoid problematic terms such as 'disabled' unless required by the subject matter; and rely on disability-inclusive language:
  • Use people-first language such as "children with diabetes", "persons with disabilities", or "men with intellectual disabilities". If talking about a specific person, ask how they prefer to be addressed
    • On the opposing side of this, many people will personally prefer to 'identify' with their disability; such as being called Autistic rather than a 'person with Autism'.
  • Avoid referring to disability as an illness or a problem
  • Avoid condescending euphemisms such as "differently abled", "disAbility", "people of all abilities", etc. These can be considered patronizing and offensive. Use "persons with disabilities" instead. Similarly, "tailored assistance" is preferred over phrases such as "special needs".

Open Andragogy

Open Andragogy, more often called Open Pedagogy, is the practice of engaging with students as creators of information in your course. Open Andragogy is a powerful way to let students have more control over how they engage with course content; by directly involving them in creating and/or reviewing that content. Students can often contribute to existing content by providing their input on the inclusivity of it, thinking about how you could use more diverse pictures or examples, or watching out for harmful depictions.

Students can also contribute to your content by providing their personal experiences and perspective; even translating those resources into their own vernacular. Below is a short list of some example Open Andragogy activities:

• Have students create non-disposable content. Rather than writing papers that are "disposable" or thrown away after the class; they can create papers, videos, etc., that are re-used within or outside of the course
• Student collaborating to write Wikipedia articles
• Students contributing to an open textbook for the course
• Students creating or contributing things to the courses curriculum
• Students reviewing course materials and/or textbooks
• Students creating a video of a class topic
• Students creating guides to direct other students through readings or lectures
• Students creating annotations to course readings
• Students finding additional voices or authors to contribute to course readings

Things to consider for Open Andragogy:

• Students often want to retain agency over their work. You should give students a choice in whether their works are made public, re-used, etc.
• If students create OER resources, they should get to choose what Creative Commons license it uses. This can be a good opportunity to talk to students about copyright and licensing.