Sample Syllabus Statements

Using OER or affordable materials in your course? Here are some sample syllabus statements you might use to share that information with your students effectively. Please feel free to use any of the samples you like listed below by copying and pasting them into your syllabus. In addition to adding it to your syllabus, please let the bookstore know.  

OER Materials

Penn State strives to provide students with equitable access to quality learning materials. To keep your course materials costs to a minimum, this course uses Open Educational Resources (OER). These are high-quality, openly licensed educational materials available at no cost to you. The OER materials are licensed under a Creative Commons [insert appropriate CCBY license] which means you are free to use, reuse, modify, and share with attribution [adjust this last part as appropriate according to license on the materials].

[Include citation for the materials here.]

You can access these materials through [insert directions here].

I am interested in your experience using these materials and welcome your feedback at any time throughout the semester or through the anonymous end-of-course survey.

E-Books

Penn State strives to provide students with equitable access to quality learning materials. To keep your course materials costs to a minimum, this course uses an openly licensed e-book available at no cost to you through Penn State Libraries, rather than traditional textbooks.

[Include citation for eBook(s) here.]

You can access the e-book(s) at any time at [insert directions on how to find the e-book(s) here]. If you are interested in exploring additional e-books available to you through Penn State Libraries, see “E-Books at Penn State.”

I am interested in your experience using these materials and welcome your feedback at any time throughout the semester or through the anonymous end-of-course survey.

Low-cost Textbooks

Considerable care and effort have been taken to ensure that you have access to high-quality and affordable materials for this course. The textbook I have selected with these features in mind is:

[Include citation for textbook(s) here.]

I am interested in your experience using these materials and welcome your feedback at any time throughout the semester or through the anonymous end-of-course survey.