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Open and Affordable Course Content

What is Affordable Course Content?

Affordable course content describes any educational resources that are free to access, low-cost, or openly licensed. Affordable course content can include syllabi, course modules, textbooks, videos, tests, journal articles, assessment tools, and any other materials used to support learning. ​Zero Textbook Cost is commonly used to refer to the subset of affordable course materials that are freely available to students.

Most affordable course content still retains traditional copyright licensing, including restrictions on how a resource can be used or shared.  The exception is open educational resources, which are free of cost and most copyright restrictions, allowing them to be freely used, edited, stored, and distributed.

Why use Open and Affordable Course Content?

  • Equitable, day-one access for all students
  • Faculty freedom to customize materials
  • More engaging learning experiences for students, especially from using customized materials
  • Improved student success, especially for those who are from historically underserved groups, first generation, part-time or Pell grant recipients

Top Tips to Lower Textbook Costs

Adopt open course content. Start by reviewing this VCU Libraries' guide, which includes a page of top repositories to search:

Search the libraries' collections for any books you assign, as they might be available as ebooks. Start by reviewing this VCU Libraries' guide, which includes information on which ebooks should be used as course content and what to do if your text isn't available as an ebook:

Consider other items in the libraries' collections. Our databases and digital collections contain ebooks, online video, images, data, articles, and more. Perhaps you'd like to assign primary resources: check out our digital collections. Maybe you require students to watch a video: check out our streaming media options. Start by reviewing this VCU Libraries' guide, which includes information on how to request videos and insight into our other collections which can be used as course content:

Place copies of your course materials in VCU Libraries' course reserves for students who may be unable to purchase them. Start with this guide to learn the types of materials we accept and the process for submitting textbooks:

Report your textbook adoptions to the bookstore as soon as possible. The earlier the bookstore has this information, the more used copies they can make available for students. The VCU Textbook Adoptions and Sales Policy sets the adoption deadlines:

  • Fall semester adoptions by April 1
  • Spring semester adoptions by October 15
  • Summer session adoptions by March 1
  • In the case of a late appointment of a course instructor, as soon as practical

Learn more about Textbook Adoption and Sales Policy, including low- and no-cost markings in the catalog, by reviewing: 

Create a customized course pack instead of assigning a whole textbook. Barnes and Noble @ VCU partners with XanEdu to help faculty create customized print course materials. Materials can be a combination of openly licensed or copyrighted works--XanEdu helps faculty license permissions for copyrighted content. There is no cost for faculty to use XanEdu. Learn more from XanEdu's website: