Bill > HB06117

This bill establishes pilot programs within the Board of Regents for Higher Education and The University of Connecticut to explore the use of "open-source textbooks," which are college-level textbooks available online under an "open license" that allows free use and adaptation, aiming to reduce the cost of higher education. These programs will assess the effectiveness of these digital resources and promote their adoption through faculty and staff training. Additionally, the bill creates a task force composed of representatives from various higher education institutions and student organizations to study best practices for "open educational resources" (OER), which are broadly defined as free and adaptable teaching, learning, and research materials, and to consider incentives for faculty to create or adapt OER to further lower student costs for course materials. Both the pilot programs and the task force are required to report their findings and recommendations to the state legislature.