The University Library is thrilled to announce the 2025 Open and Equitable Course Material Community of Practice. As part of the Community of Practice, four faculty members are partnering with the library to replace one module or section of their course with an existing Open Educational Resource (OER) which they will customize using an equity lens. The Teaching and Learning Center has also provided course design expertise to the Community of Practice. Participating faculty include Nandini Bhattacharya (Math), Amy Furniss (Physics), Brenda Sanfilippo (Writing), and Guido Bordignon (Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology). Their work adapting OER will impact hundreds of UCSC students taking key gateway courses, including Precalculus, Introductory Physics, Rhetoric and Inquiry, and Cell and Molecular Biology, respectively. 

OER, or free course materials that instructors can legally modify, are an important tool for reducing the high costs that UC Santa Cruz students face. But OER can also serve as an equity and instructional innovation tool as instructors can adapt them to promote belonging and ensure that course readings resonate with student identities and experiences. 

While the cohort’s projects are still in development, they currently focus on reducing course material costs by exploring alternatives to fee-based homework systems, increasing accessibility and student engagement with course readings, and more actively involving students in project based learning. As part of their projects, faculty have been exploring new tools for hosting and editing OER, strategies for reducing students’ cognitive load while reading, and building problem-based assignments and examples that are grounded in students’ experiences and interests. 

Faculty will share their experiences with using and adapting OER in Fall 2025 so that other instructors can learn more about the opportunities and challenges of changing their course materials. Anyone interested in replacing their textbook or homework system with more affordable alternatives like OER can collaborate with the library by contacting Sarah Hare, Open Educational Resources Librarian, at sehare@ucsc.edu.