Testimony Presented Before the
Senate Committee on Higher Education
January 30, 2018 at 1:15 p.m.
By
Donald O. Straney
Vice President of Academic Planning and Policy
University of Hawai‘i System

SB 2328 – RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I
Chair Kahele, Vice Chair Kim, and members of the committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony on SB 2328. The University
understands and appreciates the intent of this legislation but cannot support the bill as
currently written which, beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, requires all courses
at all campuses within the University of Hawai‘i system that require the use of
instructional materials to exclusively use instructional materials from the open
educational resources at the University of Hawai‘i.
The University recognizes the financial burden of the high cost of textbooks on students.
Beginning in 2015, our ten campuses have been intentionally investing in Open
Educational Resources (OER) by providing workshops, grants, trainings, technology
support and opportunities for faculty and staff to promote the adoption, adaption and
creation of OER.
A mandate for OER use in all courses is not possible due to the wide variety of
materials used in thousands of courses, some of which will remain under copyright.
Faculty need to be able to choose the instructional content that is most appropriate for
their courses and their students, and be encouraged to adopt OER when possible.
Faculty have responded well to the outreach, training, and support being provided to
them.
Recognizing that there are other alternatives for free resources in addition to OER, the
University also has a zero textbook cost initiative. In addition, faculty at our campuses
provide other alternatives including placing copies of publisher produced textbooks on
reserve at our libraries, using materials available through library subscriptions, and
supporting faculty as they create their own instructional materials.
Finally, OER does not fit all teaching and learning situations. In some of our Career and
Technical Education (CTE) courses, manufacturer manuals and materials are needed
while learning (i.e, student working on brakes for an automotive vehicle or an engine for
a particular airplane). For Honolulu Community College, 60% of the students are in
CTE programs.

 For the above-mentioned reasons, the University of Hawai‘i recommends that this bill be
deferred, and may we suggest that we work with the committee on drafting a concurrent
resolution to look further into OERs and other alternative cost saving measures for
textbooks.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on SB 2328.