OER

OER at Nashville State Community College

Nashville State Community College (NSCC) has introduced a new internally funded Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative designed to reduce the financial burden on students while maintaining rigorous academic standards.

By replacing expensive textbooks with free, high-quality learning materials, NSCC makes higher education more affordable and equitable.

The program strategically focuses on courses with the highest enrollment and most significant impact, particularly general education and other high-demand courses. This targeted approach ensures the initiative benefits the largest number of students, significantly reducing educational costs on a broad scale.

Faculty-led development with Instructional Designer Collaboration

Faculty play a central role in this initiative, supported by a collaborative framework that pairs them with NSCC’s Department of Online Learning instructional designers. These partnerships ensure that the resources are academically sound, pedagogically practical, and user-friendly.

Faculty assess their development category based on the nature of their work, whether adopting, adapting, or authoring materials. Compensation agreements can be revised during the process to promote equity and fairness if the scope of work exceeds initial expectations. This flexibility ensures that faculty are fairly compensated for their contributions.

Faculty Compensation Structure

The initiative’s tiered compensation structure incentivizes the integration of OER materials while acknowledging varying levels of faculty involvement:

Category 1: Adopt – Faculty receive $500 per course for adopting existing OER materials.
Category 2: Adapt – Faculty earn $1,800 for modifying or remixing existing OER content.
Category 3: Author – Faculty are compensated $3,000 per course for creating new OER materials.

The initiative focuses on high-enrollment courses and general education classes to maximize its impact on students.

Current courses under development include:

ASTR 1010
BIOL 1000
BUSN 1300
BUSN 2300
BUSN 2330

ENGL 1010
ENGL 1020
HIST 2010
HIST 2020
MUS 1030

PHIL 1030
POLS 1030
PSYC 1030
THEA 1030

Projected Savings for the First Year:

Current OER Savings for Students up to Present:

Projected Future Savings for Past and Present NSCC OER Courses

TBR and OER Commons:

The Tennessee Open Education Hub brings together the intellectual and creative power of faculty throughout the state, providing a place to build and share resources with the common goal of improving student learning outcomes.

Tennessee Open Education Hub