Course marking refers to a practice in which institutions provide information to students during course registration about which courses use free, low cost, and/or open course materials. Course marking has become an important topic in higher education as institutions seek to improve the affordability of course materials for their students, as a means of supporting student success. I conducted a national survey examining course marking practices at post-secondary institutions in Canada. In this presentation, I will share the survey results, including an analysis of how frequent course marking is at universities and colleges in Canada. I will use responses from institutions already engaged in course marking to determine the units, processes, and systems involved. I will also describe trends at Canadian institutions that are not yet engaged in course marking, and whether this is a program that is being considered to foster transparency and affordability in course materials costs.
Attendees of this session will be able to:- Identify motivations for marking courses that use free, low-cost, or open course materials.
- Recognize trends in course marking at Canadian institutions.
- Describe the units, processes, and systems involved in course marking at Canadian post-secondary institutions.
