Statement on OER to the CCM Task Force
September 29, 2022
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By Dan Matthews, Moraine Valley Community College
Illinois convened the College Course Materials Affordability and Equitable Access Collaborative Study Act and Task Force, also called "CCM Task Force", in the summer of 2021. The task force’s charge is to conduct a college course materials affordability and equitable access study. From the task force website:
Specifically, the task force is to examine "the cost-saving methods and practices utilized by public and private institutions of higher learning in this State and throughout the United States for improving students' equitable first-day-of-class access to required course materials and conduct an affordability comparison of providing students' course materials, including digital learning tools.
You can learn more about the task force on the CCM Task Force web page.
In June 2022, CARLI published a statement from the CARLI OER Committee voicing support for OER as part of the statewide solution to affordability and accessibility regarding course materials. The statement also calls attention to practices like inclusive access which can often create new barriers to students while removing others in an effort to provide equitable access. CARLI Member Institutions from across all of Illinois signed on to the statement, and individual CARLI members were able to leave comments, all of which emphasized the importance of OER to students and to our institutions.
ILA has in turn voiced its support for the statement to the task force, recognizing the importance of OER as part of an equitable solution to the high cost of textbooks. As academic librarians, we are often deeply invested in affordability efforts and act as leaders for OER on our campuses. You can read the statement from the CARLI OER Committee on the CARLI website.
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