UCSB Library is committed to open research and teaching and supports faculty in using open educational resources (OERs) to create learning experiences with fewer technical, financial, and copyright deterrents. In celebration of Open Education Week 2026 (March 2-6), UCSB Library is highlighting a UCSB professor who has incorporated OERs into her courses.
The Library's Open And Affordable Course Materials Committee interviewed Carmen Galaz García, an Assistant Teaching Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, where she teaches data science tools and skills and leads the capstone courses for the Bren Master of Environmental Data Science. Her teaching focuses on making technical subjects accessible to people of all backgrounds and creating a welcoming classroom focused on collaboration and growth where students are empowered by their learning experiences. Below is what she shared about her experience using OERs and other affordable resources in her courses.
Why and how did you decide to use free and open educational resources (OERs) for your course materials?
I completed my undergraduate education in mathematics in Mexico, where at the time obtaining specialized math books from the U.S. was very expensive. I deeply appreciated the effort professors made to provide notes and materials that spared us students from purchasing books we might only use for a few months.
When I began my PhD in Mathematics at UCSB, I was surprised that undergraduates in the U.S. were expected to buy costly textbooks! When I later had the opportunity to teach calculus as an instructor of record, I decided to provide all course notes and exercises without requiring a textbook, instead pointing students to an e-book available through the UCSB Library for alternative explanations. The course ran very well, and eliminating additional expenses made the class more equitable.
What types of OERs do you use?
I now work as an assistant teaching professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, primarily teaching in the Masters in Environmental Data Science (MEDS). Environmental data science is a relatively young field, and there are not many textbooks available compared to more established subjects like calculus.
As a result, my teaching team and I create course materials that are openly accessible online. These include tutorials on programming tools used in environmental data science, programming exercises with self-grading systems, and collaborative group activities.
In which courses do you incorporate OERs?
I have created OERs for EDS 220: Working with Environmental Datasets and for the EDS 411 sequence of the MEDS Capstone Project. I have also contributed to developing OERs for the Bren Calculus Summer Workshop. I am looking forward to developing OERs for all of my courses as I continue to expand my teaching portfolio!
Did the OERs replace a previously assigned costly textbook?
The first time I used OERs, they replaced a costly textbook, collectively saving the students more than $2,400. In my current courses, many of the topics are so new that few textbooks exist at all. In these cases, the OERs we develop contribute entirely new, publicly accessible materials to the field.
How would you evaluate the quality of the OERs you use compared to traditional textbooks?
My teaching team and I put great effort into designing, polishing, and updating the open course materials we develop for our courses. Since the materials are developed with our specific student population in mind and the types of topics and applications they are interested in, I’d say they are both high quality and relevant for them. Because the materials are openly available and created by us, we can also continuously revise and improve them based on student feedback.
How have students responded to your use of free OERs?
We have received extremely positive responses from students. The publicly available notes for EDS 220 are consistently described by students as one of the most useful components of the class.
Because the course notes are developed as a GitHub website, students have even taken the initiative to suggest improvements directly through pull requests. I’m excited to continue exploring this model of co-developing course materials with students as the course evolves. Additionally, since the notes are publicly available online, alumni have shared that they continue to consult them after graduation and even share them with their new work teams.
What advice would you offer to faculty and instructors at UCSB who are considering adopting OERs?
If your course currently relies on students purchasing a textbook, I strongly encourage you to consider switching to an OER. Saving even one hundred dollars can make a meaningful difference for some students. While the Library may place copies of textbooks on Course Reserves, the quantities may not be sufficient for large classes.
OERs ensure that every student has immediate and equal access to course materials. If you teach an established topic, there are often excellent, well-developed OERs already available through the library or online. For newer or emerging topics, creating OERs from scratch does require time and effort, but the ability to customize materials for your students, and the level of support this can provide, is incredibly rewarding. And once you’ve created them, you get to reuse and refine them each time you teach the course!
Interested in learning more about how you can adopt OERs into your course curricula? View UCSB Library’s Open Education Resources Research Guide for help to find, adopt, evaluate, or publish materials for your next course, or contact your liaison librarian.
