By Cailyn Nagle
As in previous years, the Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative focused on ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed, free from high course material costs. In 2024, we supported the rollout of Governor Newsom’s $115 million investment in Zero Textbook Cost degrees, worked to protect students within the textbook marketplace, and remained committed to building a higher education system where every student has what they need to thrive.
Conducting Surveys and Original Research
In line with the push to incorporate student feedback and perspectives, the OER program produced a survey on students’ experiences with automatic textbook billing. More than half of students, consistent with surveys from other organizations, felt that automatic textbook billing programs cost more than they saved.
The survey found that most students remained in automatic billing programs because it was the quickest option and they didn’t know where to buy materials outside of the program. One student said, “It felt like more hassle to opt out than to pay out of pocket.” The survey also found that only one in 10 students prefer automatic billing, while over 40% prefer to find materials from off-campus sources.
This survey aimed to start a conversation and invite further research on student preference. It also encouraged institutions to pause before enrolling students in programs to which they have not consented.
Expanding the Student Fellows Program
Michelson 20MM Student Fellows present their work at OpenEd 2024
Students continued to be the driving force behind the Michelson 20MM OER program. Building on the success of last year’s student fellowship program, each program within the organization welcomed a student fellow this year. Throughout the course of the program, the fellows worked on a specific, student-directed project within each initiative.
Katie Wagman, now a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) remained an OER fellow. She was joined by Abba Schwartz, who transferred from Sierra College to the University of California (UC) Berkeley during the fellowship.
As with last year, the fellowship centered on each student developing and running a local campaign focused on their program areas. Katie continued her advocacy, both on campus and nationally, to focus on student consumer protection in policies about automatic textbook billing. Katie gave public comment during the Department of Education negotiated rulemaking process and was published in the Hill. At UCLA, she worked with the library and campus bookstore to conduct a faculty survey. The survey aimed to better understand faculty views on textbook affordability initiatives and the newly expanded automatic textbook billing program.
Abba’s project was focused on publicizing and expanding the visibility of the California Community College’s (CCC) Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Program. Abba worked with the ZTC Technical Advisor’s office and the Academic Senate’s OER Initiative (OERI) Committee to design and launch a “Good News” portal for ZTC success stories. She also created materials for CCC Student Basic Needs offices to publicize ZTC degree options to the students.
Building Community
Mayra Lombera, Michelson 20MM’s CEO, (right) with Elaine Correa (left), who traveled from CSU Bakersfield to connect with fellow advocates. Correa self-funded t-shirts on her campus to drive awareness about the benefits of OER.
Southern California is a region rich with higher education institutions. In Los Angeles County alone, there are over 30 colleges and universities. Despite this density, OER educators often feel siloed in their work and interests. To build a stronger OER movement and community in Southern California, Michelson 20MM launched two OER gatherings. These happy hour events allowed faculty, administrators, course designers, and others to gather, network, and share success and resources.
Our first event, Hitting the Books, was held in North Hollywood to mark the start of the term. Educators from as far away as San Diego and Bakersfield joined us for an evening of good food and community. At the start of December, we hosted “OER: The Gift that Keeps Giving,” our second happy hour of the year in Torrance. Educators took a break from preparing for finals and grading end of term essays to celebrate their hard work and spend time in community. We are excited to hold more OER Happy Hour events in 2025!
Welcoming the Spark Grant Recipients
The 2024 OER Spark Grants funding cycle focused on supporting the data and research side of the ZTC program within the CCC system and supporting student organizing at the UC system. Both Chabot College and Glendale Community College are now in the middle of their research and data collection projects, with Chabot building a data dashboard and Glendale CC focused on ZTC course marking visibility. We were also thrilled to support GenerationUP, a student-run grassroots organization, in launching a textbook affordability campaign within the UC system.
Outside of the Spark Grant cycle, the OER program teamed up with the Michelson 20MM Smart Justice Program to jointly support the work of the Transformative Collective Institute in training CCC educators whose students are incarcerated on how to leverage OER in their unique context. Last but not least, we were excited to help support the Student PIRGs’ newest report on automatic textbook billing contracts.
Attending Coast-to-Coast Conferences
The OER team joined the Association of Community College Trustees National Legislative Summit
From Washington, D.C., to the Bay Area, the Michelson 20MM OER team had the opportunity to be in community with educators across the country.
Starting off the year with community colleges from around the nation, we joined the Community College National Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. During the summer, we attended the CalOpen conference, where we had the opportunity to dig in on the open community in the Golden State. October took the team to New England then the Midwest, with first the Open Education Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, then to the Education Funders Conference in Minneapolis.
OpenEd’s first hybrid conference since 2019 gave OER Fellows Abba and Katie an opportunity to uplift the work of students in the textbook accessibility space. Abba and Katie presented the work of the Michelson 20MM Student Fellows program and shared insights on how OER practitioners can work alongside students in the field. Katie then joined students from across the country in SPARC’s panel on students pushing back on the spread of automatic textbook billing.
As 2025 approaches, we look back with gratitude on the work of partners and friends. We are also looking forward to continuing to build a world where every student has access to the materials they need to reach their goals.
Michelson 20MM is a private, nonprofit foundation working toward equity for underserved and historically underrepresented communities by expanding access to educational and employment opportunities, increasing affordability of educational programs, and ensuring the necessary supports are in place for individuals to thrive. To do so, we work in the following verticals: Digital Equity, Intellectual Property, Smart Justice, Student Basic Needs, and Open Educational Resources (OER). Co-chaired and funded by Alya and Gary Michelson, Michelson 20MM is part of the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations.
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