AL$ Annual Conference 2025

Start your conference experience with a warm welcome from the AL$ team. Learn how to maximize your participation through our virtual platform features and get an overview of the exciting sessions ahead.

Presenters

Posie Aagaard, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Scholarly Resources, University of Texas-San Antonio
Posie oversees departments that buy, manage, and provide access to the Libraries’ general collections. She leads negotiations for online collection agreements and helps advise faculty on research and scholarly communication issues, including copyright. Posie holds an MSIT/Cybersecurity from the University of Texas at San Antonio, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Information Systems and Telecommunications Management from Syracuse University, an M.L.S. from the University of North Texas, and a B.M.E. and B.M. from Texas Tech University.

Dr. Art Brownlow - Professor of Music and Senior Fellow for Academic Innovation, University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley
Dr. Art Brownlow is Professor of Music at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (Brownsville Campus). He has long been interested in the incorporation of technology in music education. On the strength of his innovative design of a hybrid music history class, Brownlow won the College Music Society Instructional Technology Initiative Award for 2014-15, and he was named an Apple Distinguished Educator, Class of 2015.

About This Session:  Rich repositories of open educational resources (OER) play a crucial role in broadening student access to high-quality learning materials, and ancillary materials are particularly important among these resources as they supplement and enrich student learning experiences. However, compared to OER textbooks, ancillary materials are less readily available. With the content generation capabilities offered by Generative AI, what new opportunities exist for creating OER ancillaries, and which areas require special consideration? In this session, we will explore these questions and compare the quality of peer-reviewed ancillaries with AI-generated materials. To enhance engagement, we will provide hands-on activities both during the session and for participants to complete at home.

What to Expect: After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Identify specific opportunities where Generative AI can be leveraged to develop OER ancillary materials, thereby expanding educational content for students
• Articulate key considerations and challenges in employing GenAI for the creation of OER materials, ensuring they are aware of both the potential and the limitations of these technologies
• Compare and assess the quality of AI-generated ancillaries against traditional peer-reviewed OER materials to enable informed decisions on their integration into teaching and learning
• Use GenAI tools hands-on to create and evaluate ancillary materials, thereby gaining practical experience and insights on integrating these tools into curriculum development
• Contribute to the discourse on the future of OER material creation using GenAI, providing feedback/insights that could shape the direction of future research and development in this field.
   

Hear directly from CSU students as they share powerful stories about how affordable learning materials have impacted their academic journey. Learn about successful student advocacy initiatives and engage in an interactive Q&A session to better understand the student perspective on affordable course materials.

Discover successful collaboration models between campus bookstores and AL$ programs through real-world case studies. Learn about innovative approaches to course material delivery and explore strategies for scaling successful programs across your campus. This panel discussion features insights from bookstore managers and AL$ coordinators who have successfully partnered to increase student savings.

Connect with colleagues in facilitated breakout sessions to process key takeaways and generate new ideas. Through guided discussion prompts, you'll have the opportunity to reflect on the day's learnings and begin mapping out how to apply these insights to your campus strategy. Leave with concrete action items and new connections with your peers.

Get a first look at the upcoming AL$ application process for 2025-26. Learn about important updates, deadlines, and requirements to ensure your campus is prepared for a successful submission.

Explore cutting-edge AI tools specifically designed for education that can transform how we create and adapt affordable learning materials. Learn best practices for customizing content while maintaining quality standards and discover practical approaches to AI-assisted content development that ensure academic integrity.

Track A: Advanced Coordinator Session Data-Driven Decision Making: Measuring Impact and Driving Change Perfect for experienced coordinators, this advanced session dives deep into leveraging your campus savings data to increase buy-in from campus stakeholders. Learn approaches to tracking program effectiveness, including year-over-year analysis of savings, faculty participation, and curriculum trends. Discover strategies for connecting AL$ initiatives to institutional priorities and effectively presenting data to campus stakeholders.

Track B: New Coordinator Session Building Your AL$ Foundation: Essential Strategies for Program Success Designed for new coordinators, this foundational session covers the core elements of building a successful campus AL$ program. Learn effective stakeholder engagement strategies, resource allocation techniques, and practical approaches to committee management. Leave with a clear roadmap for launching and growing your campus initiative.

Get the latest updates on CSU's progress toward the Governor's Zero-Cost Course Materials Compact Goal. Understand how AL$ initiatives connect to Graduation Initiative 2025 and examine system-wide data trends that inform our collective path forward.

Transform insights into action in this hands-on closing session. Through structured planning exercises and cross-campus collaboration, you'll develop concrete next steps for implementing key learnings on your campus. Leave the conference with a clear, actionable strategy for advancing your AL$ initiatives.