Tennessee Tech OER (Open Educational Resources) Program
Tennessee Tech received a TBR grant for OERs, which saved students over $162,000 in Spring 2022. Although the grant ended in June 2022, Provost Lori Mann Bruce funded an OER program to continue saving students money. The goal of this program is for faculty to transition their courses from traditional textbooks to zero-cost course materials.
Previously, the focus was on incentivizing faculty to adopt/adapt existing OERs into their courses. In Summer 2024, the program focus shifted to incentivizing faculty to create OERs. Not only does this transition save their students money, but it also facilitates the creation of quality OERs to share with others.
Selected faculty receive a discretionary fund to spend on professional development, work travel, summer pay, and student employment. In order to receive the discretionary fund, faculty must complete the following tasks:
- Attend two training workshops
- Create a course OER that is at least 50% original content (any other content must be free to students)
- Share their OER with a Creative Commons license of CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Upload their OER to the Tennessee Open Education Hub in the OER Commons so others can use and reuse it for free
- Replace a traditional paid textbook with their OER into at least one course
- Distribute the student survey
- Provide feedback at the end of the semester of the course using their OER
See the 2025-2026 cohort page for more information.
Previous Semesters/Cohorts
Click on the semester below for more information about the OER classes during that semester, including selected faculty cohorts, savings, student feedback, etc.
Savings
The tables below indicate the amount per semester that students have saved in classes as a direct result of that cohort's participation in the OER Program.
Spring 2024 Cohort
| Spring 2024 | Fall 2024 | Total | |||
| Students | Savings | Students | Savings | Students | Savings |
| 654 | $105,922 | 510 | $81,916 | 1,164 | $187,838 |
Fall 2023 Cohort
| Fall 2023 |
Spring 2024 |
Total |
|||
| Students | Savings | Students | Savings | Students | Savings |
| 386 | $53,533 | 325 | $56,819 | 711 | $110,352 |
Spring 2023 Cohort
| Spring 2023 |
Fall 2023 |
Total |
|||
| Students | Savings | Students | Savings | Students | Savings |
| 606 | $94,261 | 566 | $83,025 | 1,172 | $177,286 |
Savings are calculated using the class' previous textbook cost or an average cost of $125 based on campus textbook data, grant data and The College Board data.
Contact
Please contact Dr. Amy Miller or Professor Sharon Holderman with questions about this program.