V462.01 Instructional Material Access and Affordability Procedure

Through existing structures and processes, VCSU Academic Affairs will ensure the following to increase access and affordability of instructional materials for all students:

Faculty Support by:
- Offering professional development as needed focusing on discovering and evaluating OER, licensing and copywright basics, adaptinb/creating OER, and/or incorporating OER into course design.
- Recognizing faculty contributions toward creating and successfully implemting OER content.
- Respecting academic freedom while encouraging intentional review of materials toward cost-saving strategies.
- Allowing departments to develop discipline-specific strategies aligned with policy V462.01 or add other components based on local needs (e.g., peer review of OER, partnerships with libraries).
Student Support by:
- Minimizing instructional material costs through:
  - Encouraging faculty use of OER, low-cost, or no-cost materials where pedagogically appropriate.
  - Promoting strategies such as inclusive access models, course reserves, and institutional licensing to reduce costs.
- Addressing accessibility for all students:
  - Providing resources and training to faculty to ensure all instructional materials meet ADA accessibility compliance and universal design principles.
  - Offering alternative formats (e.g., print versions of digital content, off-line access options) as needed.
Implementation of Course Marking, Evaluation and Reporting Processes:
- Academic departments will note which course marking tag is to be assigned to each class section when submitting the term schedules to the Registrar's office. Those tags will be entered by the Registrar's office staff while creating the class offering for each term and will be shown in the published term schedule. Tags to be used are defined in V462.01: NOCOST, NOMAT, LOWCOST, LOWMAT.
- Continuous improvement and evaluation will be completed by Academic Affairs through defined nad mesurable goals (e.g., percent of OER-marked courses), tracking cost savings for students, and evaluating impact and barriers utilizing the course evaluation process and audits of required materials.
- Outcomes will be reported to relevent stakeholders following the SBHE policy for inclusion on the publicly available dashboard.

Sponsor: Vice President for Academic Affairs

Effective: August 2025