header image

ePortfolios for Affordable Learning Solutions Programs

Open Educational Practices and Affordable Learning: MERLOT and SkillsCommons has been instrumental in a number of Affordable Learning programs that reduce the costs of course materials for students by providing access to over 7,000 free and open etextbooks and simultaneously searching over 70 additional open libraries. Sharing open educational practices of how faculty migrated from print textbooks and how they teach with OER is a critical strategy for changing faculty and campus culture to implement Affordable Learning Solutions programs.

Capturing OEP in ePortfolios: MERLOT customized ePortfolio templates within its Content Builder application for faculty to share their adoption of free and open educational resources with the support of scaffolding questions about:

Explore over 100 open teaching ePortfolios by faculty (mostly California and MERLOT partners) adopting OER.  Here's an example from our catalog of open teaching ePorfolios.  Click on "Learn how I used this open textbook in my course" blue box to get details.

humanities

Michael Henderson, Ph.D. from California State University, San Marcos
eTextbook: The American Yawp

Image of Michael Henderson

Course Description:

A survey of the development and the changing historical interpretation of institutions and society in the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the present. Special attention to the interplay between races and cultural diversity and conflict.

Quote

"Quite a few students complimented the online textbook for being clear and easy to read. Some explicitly said that it was easier to understand than a regular textbook, and students were also happy to have the text accessible at any time from computers and other electronic devices, without having to carry around a heavy book."

Learn How I Use This Open Textbook in My Course

Select a discipline area to begin:

You can browse by discipline and find colleagues' stories of how, what, and why they changed to more affordable learning solutions for their students.

 


Capturing OEP in Institutional Portals: MERLOT customized institutional templates with the Bootstrap application for higher ed institutions to provide their faculty a convenient and branded foundation of OER resources and practices that they can use to create their own affordable learning solutions in their own courses. The Institutional Portals include:

Explore Institutional AL$ Portals: MERLOT and SkillsCommons developed a template institutional AL$ portal that we've customized for over a dozen higher ed institutions. We have also served Historically Black Colleges and Universities with an AL$ Community Portal where you can explore HBCU-branded and open AL$ Institutional portals and programs.

Learn More About: