2004
USG Textbook Task Force
The USG Chancellor creates a task force to address rising textbook costs. The task force met with stakeholders, conducted research, and provided policy recommendations.
2006
New USG Textbook Policies
With a change in policy, the USG was now able to create guidelines for university bookstore sales.
2008
USG SHARE Repository
The Office of Faculty Development began a repository to share eCore materials and allow faculty to share learning objects with each other at no cost. Due to server costs, USG Share was decommissioned in 2011.
2011
White Paper on Textbook Affordability
The USG Report on Textbook Costs and Trends for Delivery and Cost Reduction was published with findings including the need for open textbooks in the USG. Read the report here.
First USG Open Textbook
Remaining USG SHARE funds are used to create the first USG-published open textbook with the University Press of North Georgia for US History I, History in the Making.
2013
Affordable Learning Pilot Team
A team of USG librarians, instructional designers, and faculty teamed up with members of the California State University's Affordable Learning Solutions, the first systemwide open education program, to develop plans for an initiative promoting the use of open and affordable materials. A logic model, a stakeholder analysis, and a website serving as a central hub for OER information were created.
2014
Symposium on the Future of the Textbook
Affordable Learning Georgia raises awareness across the USG through a spectacular symposium featuring national figures in open education and publishing. Pre-ALG open and affordable education innovators in USG institutions were recognized in an awards ceremony.
Textbook Transformation Grants Pilot
The first round of Textbook Transformation Grants involved 30 projects from 19 institutions where faculty replaced expensive materials with open and affordable materials.
2015
MERLOT Award for Innovative Use
Affordable Learning Georgia receives the Innovative Use of MERLOT Award at the OLC Innovate Conference.
2016
Zero Textbook Costs in eCore Courses
Through a partnership with Affordable Learning Georgia, eCore achieved zero textbook costs for all of their courses by 2016. They continue to offer all eCore courses without textbook costs with the help of eCampus instructional designers.
GALILEO Open Learning Materials
Affordable Learning Georgia's repository for open educational resources opens, sharing materials from grant projects and the University of North Georgia Press with learners across the world.
2017
$10 Million in Savings
Affordable Learning Georgia's grantees reach $10 million in student textbook cost savings by the end of 2016.
Improving Sustainability and Resources: Continuous Improvement Grants
ALG adds a second grant category: mini-grants to improve courses using affordable resources through the revision and creation of OER. These grants covered the extra time it takes to update an open textbook, create ancillary materials, or film and record audiovisual resources.
2018
Course Attributes for No-Cost and Low-Cost Resources
A partnership with GeorgiaBEST results in two attributes in course schedules for no-cost materials courses and low-cost materials courses. Data on these attributes is still entered by institutions and analyzed by Affordable Learning Georgia today.
2020
One Million Downloads
GALILEO Open Learning Materials hits a milestone: one million full text downloads of open educational resources.
Open ALG
Affordable Learning Georgia's new home for open educational resources opens, giving grantees an opportunity to publish web-readable and more accessible open textbooks.
2022
$100 Million in Savings
Affordable Learning Georgia's grantees reached $100 million in student textbook cost savings in spring 2022.
2023
Answering the Big Questions: Research Grants
ALG adds a third grant category: mini-grants to support further research on affordable learning, including aspects of student learning outcomes, perceptions, and use.
2024
Guidelines and Grantee Innovation with AI
Accepted 2023 and 2024 grant awardees included projects using Generative AI alongside open educational resources or to assist in qualitative research. Affordable Learning Georgia releases a set of guidelines for using Generative AI with OER; the guidelines were a finalist in the OE Global 2024 Awards.