Journal of Online Learning Research and Practice Volume 7, Number 2, 2019 | Page 14

The APUS Open Educational Resources (OER) Conversion Project
The American Public University
System (APUS) originated with
the establishment of American
Military University (AMU), founded
in 1991, by a former Marine officer. The
institution’s purpose was to “provide
career-relevant, distant education for a
mobile population of military learners”
(APUS, 2016, para. 1). As it grew, AMU
was reorganized into APUS; in 2002,
American Public University (APU) was
added to “provide the same quality, affordable,
and flexible education to a
broader audience of motivated working
adults” (APUS, 2016, para. 2). From its
inception and through its rapid growth,
currently at approximately 80,000 students,
APUS continues to meet its commitment
to provide access to higher education,
even as the costs of tuition and
learning resources across the country
have continued to strain university and
student budgets.
In order to fulfill its mission in
higher education and manage the extent
of student expenses beyond tuition,
APUS includes the cost of undergraduate
textbooks and other learning resources
associated with each course as
part of a student’s base tuition. APUS
has raised tuition only once in the past
15 years. This allows the university to
keep student debt low. The current average
tuition-per-credit-hour rate is
$270—$250 with a military grant—at
the undergraduate level and $350—
$325 with a military grant—at the graduate
level (APUS, 2016). This means
that active-duty military members using
GI Bill benefits may complete their
education with the University without
incurring out-of-pocket expenses.
However, the institution is not immune
to budget challenges, and many graduate
students still face the high cost of
textbooks. APUS traditionally spent
many millions of dollars annually on
Electronic Course Materials (ECMs)
for undergraduate students through
its book grant policy. The rising cost of
textbooks is well documented (Lindshield
and Adhikari, 2013). Faced with
the major challenge of increasing costs
for textbooks and accompanying learning
resources, APUS enthusiastically
entered the Open Educational Resource
(OER) space as a way to continue meeting
its mission of expanding online access
to affordable, relevant, high-quality
higher-education offerings. APUS is
completely online; students access and
use Sakai as their Learning Management
System (LMS), which holds the
ECMs referenced herein.
What Are Open
Educational Resources?
OERs are free or low-cost openly
licensed educational materials
for use in teaching, learning,
and research. The William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation (2016) defined
OERs as:
... teaching, learning, and research
resources that reside in
the public domain or have been
released under an intellectual
property license that permits
their free use and re-purposing
by others. Open educational resources
include full courses,
course materials, modules, textbooks,
streaming videos, tests,
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