Affordable Learning Solutions

The high cost of textbooks hurts students' education and impacts their ability to graduate. In order to address this problem, Cal Maritime has joined the CSU's Affordable Learning Solutions Campaign, which increases faculty awareness of Open Educational Resources (OER) and other textbook alternatives, in order to lower costs for students.

Affordable learning materials provide many ways to improve teaching and learning. On the most basic level, adopting no or low-cost materials increases the likelihood that your students will acquire course materials and be ready on the first day of class. 

Busy students need and appreciate cost and format choices (online content, ebooks, print), with affordability and ease of access being key factors.

Information on the CSU AL$ Campaign

AB-798

A grant of $50,000 from the Chancellors office for AL$ was recieved in May of 2016.

Purpose

Affordable Learning Solutions enables faculty to choose and provide more affordable, quality educational content for their students.

By reducing CSU student course material expenses, more students acquire the course materials they need to succeed and benefit from their CSU learning experience.

Who is eligible?

Funding is available to support faculty in their efforts to reduce the cost of course materials, at the following levels:

            Tier 1: Project achieves 30% - 75% savings: Award of $500 for up to three sections

            Tier 2: Project achieves 75% - 100% savings: Award of $1,000 for up to three sections

Process

To apply for funding please complete the Affordable Learning Solutions application at the Cal Maritime InfoReady site.

Deliverables

Once you have completed the selection of lower cost course materials and adapted your course as needed, you will complete an e-portfolio at the Merlot II website. You will also be asked to participate in future Affordable Learning Solutions events to share your experience with fellow faculty.