Cal State Adds Lumen Courseware to Menu of Affordable Textbooks

closeup of stack of textbooks

California State University's Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) initiative has partnered with Lumen Learning to make courseware from the open educational resources provider available to faculty and students across the system.  

Since 2010, CSU AL$ has worked with courseware providers to assemble a broad selection of free and low-cost course materials, to make it easier for faculty to find and adopt affordable textbooks and reduce the overall cost of education for CSU students. Materials are reviewed for accessibility as well as quality and integrity of the learning content. Through the partnership, Lumen's digital courseware is now available to CSU instructors as a low-cost textbook option for many general education courses.

"Faculty in California, as in many other parts of the country, are looking for ways to reduce barriers to student success without sacrificing the quality of the learning experience for their students," commented Wendy Wright, retail management program manager at Cerritos College, in a statement. "Lumen is a natural fit as a CSU AL$ partner because its courseware combines open educational resources with learning design that can help a broad spectrum of students. Our students tell us they enjoy learning with these course materials, and teachers feel students are retaining more and doing better as a result."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • VSLive! session

    VSLive! San Diego 2026 Puts AI at the Core of the Campus IT Stack

    For higher education IT teams working through AI pilots, ERP integrations, student-facing apps, analytics projects, and mounting security concerns, Visual Studio Live! San Diego 2026 offers a look at the development practices that are shaping the campus technology landscape.

  • Silhouettes of business professionals stand against a blurred futuristic city skyline at night, with a glowing digital network data connection

    It's Time for Higher Ed to Get Serious About AI Strategy

    Without a coordinated strategy that involves multiple academic and administrative units across the entire campus, colleges risk wasting resources, duplicating efforts, and ultimately failing to deliver on the promise of deploying technology to improve learning and operations.

  • Businessman using laptop analyzing data and growth graph chart

    AI Budgets in Education Show No Sign of Decline

    The vast majority of education organizations (98%) expect their AI infrastructure budgets to either increase or hold steady over the next year, according to a recent report from cloud storage provider Wasabi.

  • hand holding AI brain circuit with graduation cap surrounded by hexagonal education icons including books, videos and learning tools

    U.S. Department of Labor Defines 5 Key Areas of AI Literacy

    The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has released a new AI Literacy Framework detailing key aspects of AI literacy as well as "delivery principles" for effective AI literacy training.