2026 Colorado OER Conference

The University of Northern Colorado (UNC), like many institutions, relies on instructors to report on which learning materials they plan to use in their courses, whether those materials are Open Education Resources (OER), other Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) materials, or cost-bearing commercial resources. This information ensures the institution is meeting federal and state mandates for cost transparency, supports students as they plan for the upcoming semester, helps in assessing the use of OER/ZTC at an institution, and aids in planning open education outreach and advocacy. Yet getting faculty to report their course materials in a timely manner (or at all) can be difficult, leading to incomplete data with downstream consequences for multiple stakeholders.

 In the context of these challenges, UNC’s Textbook Affordability Librarian and Affordable & OER Student Assistant developed an innovative publicity campaign in advance of the Spring 2026 semester to encourage faculty to report their course materials and to explain the importance of doing so. This presentation will detail why accurate data about course materials is necessary, discuss the barriers faculty might face in reporting their course materials in a timely way, highlight the publicity campaign implemented at UNC prior to the Spring 2026 semester, explore the promising results of this one-semester pilot, and solicit ideas from attendees to further improve the process of collecting course materials data. Together, these efforts underscore how intentional communication and collaboration can meaningfully improve course materials reporting and advance textbook affordability initiatives.