Students throughout the forty public postsecondary institutions were surveyed to gather their input on a preferred zero textbook cost (ZTC) icon. Students were clearly drawn to: Dark cover book with white text over White Cover with black text, the words zero cost, and the struck through dollar sign. One of the designs presented to the students was modified slightly based on student feedback to create the statewide icon design shown above. The Textbook Affordability and OER Steering Committee approved this design and this design was presented to the Members Council on Library Services.
If you are unable or prefer an alternative to the image above we encourage you to use the ZTC initials instead, similar to the indicator used in FloridaShines. This may be more suitable for locations with limited space availability.
The statewide icon should be used anywhere that students identify textbooks. We encourage you to incorporate the statewide design into your local systems and marketing where possible. In many cases, existing infrastructure and processes are able to accommodate the changes required for the implementation. Several systems allow this to be added as a "course attribute." Other options include identifying an unused tag in the system and re-appropriate it for ZTC or adding a finance code. Ideal places include:
There are four ZTC Champion Award categories :
Awards will be presented in Fall 2025 to those who have greatly impacted ZTC/OER whether at their institution or throughout Florida.
OPEN FL is excited to welcome nominations via this form for the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Champion Awards 2025. These awards recognize open education community members in the State of Florida who excel in ZTC and open educational resource (OER) initiatives/activities. There are four ZTC Champion Award categories: team, individual faculty, individual staff member, and individual student.
Nominations for the OPEN FL ZTC Champion Awards will be accepted through September 17, 2025. Winners will be announced at the OPEN FL Tea-time and Awards Meeting in Fall 2025 (Date TBD).
The ZTC Champion Award categories are as follows:
Team: Given to a team (institutional department, collaborative group, project team) that has made an innovative impact on ZTC/OER in Florida.
Faculty/instructor: Given to an individual who has greatly impacted ZTC/OER whether at their institution or throughout Florida.
Staff member: Given to an individual who has greatly impacted ZTC/OER whether at their institution or throughout Florida.
Student: Given to an individual who has greatly impacted ZTC/OER whether at their institution or throughout Florida.
Eligibility: Any employee, student, or group at a Florida institution is eligible to be nominated. Self-nominations are accepted. Nominees may be nominated for multiple categories. Please email rsauls@flvc.org with any questions.
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