International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 53

Taking OER Abroad with Library-Led Partnerships
that these projected savings are based
only on the first iteration of the courses
that adopted zero-cost course materials.
If participating instructors continue
using these zero-cost materials in subsequent
iterations of their courses, the
ratio of dollars saved to dollars spent
will improve over time.
Table 1. Comparison of Student Savings across IP and Main Campus Courses.
Applications
funded
Total student
enrollment
Total estimated
student savings
Savings per
dollar spent
IP courses 10 373 $44,956.40 $4.50
Main campus
courses
All courses (IP and
main campus)
24 2,651 $333,356.40 $13.90
34 3,024 $378,312.80 $11.13
The above savings are considerably
lower than those generated by
non-IP instructors who participated in
the ATG program. Indeed, the total estimated
savings across all 34 mini-grants
awarded since the launch of the ATG
program in 2017 will reach $378,312.80
by 2020, which works out to $11.13 in
student savings for every $1.00 spent.
This discrepancy in student savings is
likely attributable to the fact that class
sizes at IP study centers are much smaller
than those on main campus. In 2018,
for example, two mini-grants were
awarded to instructors of Introduction
to Sociology courses, one located on
main campus and the other taught at
an IP study center. Whereas the enrollment
for the main campus course was
400, the enrollment for the IP course
was only 120, resulting in significantly
lower student savings for the IP course.
Moving beyond student savings,
the ATG team has noticed other benefits
of the IP partnership that are more
difficult to measure. One of these benefits
is the adoption of OER by instructors
who do not apply to participate in
the ATG program. This was the case
with the English Composition courses
at the Republic of Panama study center
initiating a campus-wide change from
a traditional textbook to an open textbook
and at other study centers as well.
While it would be disingenuous to posit
a causal link between the IP partnership
and these OER adoptions, the fact that
the former preceded the latter suggests
that there may be a positive correlation.
Another possible benefit that is difficult
to measure is the increased recognition
of textbook affordability concerns on
campus. Although the authors have no
formal evidence to support this, it seems
reasonable to conclude that IP’s efforts
to advocate for textbook affordability
generally and the ATG program in particular
have helped to reach a greater
number of instructors than would have
otherwise been possible through University
Libraries’ efforts alone.
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