Open Educational Resources & Articulation Barbara Illowsky De Anza College

Textbooks you use Pick one textbook for one course: Cost? Edition/revision cycle? Revisions necessary?

Student View College expenses: Tuition Student fees Books & supplies

Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values ASCCC paper: Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values Adopted Spring 2005 RECOMMENDATIONS TO FACULTY 2) Faculty should consider and encourage all means to control (reduce) the cost of textbooks and materials that do not compromise academic freedom or educational quality, such as: … using, where possible, materials in public domain as well as free courseware; … 05.html

A Global Perspective: Educators worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources on the Internet, open and free for all to use. These educators are creating a world where each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge.

93 colleges from AZ, CA, FL, IA, MD, NV, NY, OH, TX, WA, Canada CCCOER Membership

AB 2261 by Ira Ruskin Section 1 (b) states that “Community colleges need to take greater advantage of open education resources, especially for basic skills and general education classes, including, but not limited to, algebra, that use course content that remains generally unchanged over time.” ab_ /ab_2261_bill_ _chaptered.pdf

OER: CCC BOG Recommendations  Clarify language in articulation policies for student transfer related to digital textbooks and learning materials.  Recommend that the System Office work with CSU and UC to change language related to textbooks in transfer and articulation agreements to clarify that digital textbooks of high quality or equivalent digital learning materials are acceptable substitutes for commercial textbooks for transferable courses.  Recommend and request that the ASCCC initiate a discussion of processes to accommodate digital textbooks and learning materials with their UC and CSU counterparts. May 5-6, 2008 Recommendations to Reduce Textbook Costs to Promote Student Access and Success

What are Open Educational Resources? High quality educational content and tools Freely available from the internet, anytime, anywhere Available in multiple languages Sharable Usable and re-usable

What are Open Textbooks? Openly-licensed (Creative Commons) textbooks offered online by its author(s) Open license sets open textbooks apart from traditional textbooks by allowing users to read online, download, or print the book at no cost Licensed in a way that grants a baseline set of rights to users that are less restrictive than standard copyright

What are Open Textbooks? Minimum baseline rights usually allow users to: Use the textbook without charge Copy the textbook, with appropriate credit to the author Distribute the textbook non-commercially Many authors also grant rights to: Add, remove or alter content in the textbook Copy and distribute the textbook without giving credit to the author Use the textbook commercially

Open Textbooks Over 250 open textbooks identified, catalogued, and listed on CCCOER site and in MERLOT Collection

Online version Download and print Buy hard copy Online View

Sample Chapter Navigate table of contents Click here to print out Key term links to definition

Publisher: WileyOpen: Connexions & QOOP Downloadable version: $77.50 Downloadable & online versions: FREE Printed bound version: $ new; $ used Printed bound version: $31.95 new Opportunities for Teachers and Learners - Cost

Savings One course, one OER text, one college*, one year: Estimated student savings of over $250,000 * Elementary Statistics using Collaborative Statistics at De Anza College in academic year

 Free access online  Free access offline (PDF)  Accessible via PC + web-enabled handhelds  Print out part or all  Purchase a hard copy Opportunities for Teachers and Learners - Accessibility

Opportunities for Teachers and Learners - Use  Navigate and view content with ease  Modify, mix and remix content to meet individual and classroom needs  Communicate with peers around content  Join workgroups with peers around content  Tailored content  Students and teachers as co-creators of knowledge  Enhanced engagement and interaction with materials  Increased student- student, teacher- teacher, and teacher- student communication around curriculum

Benefits of OER ☺ Lowers the costs of educational materials for students ☺ Fosters pedagogical innovation and relevance that minimizes “teaching from the textbook” ☺ Gives faculty tools to gain control over learning content and delivery

Benefits (cont.) ☺ Share and remix learning materials for customized and localized use ☺ Fast feedback loop on quality and relevance of learning materials => continual improvement and rapid development

Course Articulation Processes Course reviews by external bodies typically examine: Course content Learning objectives Methods of evaluation Methods of instruction Catalog description Textbooks and other assigned reading Prerequisites Rigor

The Course Textbook Review Recency (5 year rule of thumb) Note: Courses may be rejected if more recent textbook versions are available; Appropriate reading level (college level); Title, author, date (publisher not required for OSCAR); Appropriate for subject matter; supports and includes content described on course outline; Textbooks and supplemental material relate directly to the content of the course outline; Science courses that include a lab component must include a lab manual; Composition courses need to include a stylebook; Literature courses must include a representative reading list. What about OERs?

Textbook Policies Vary among community college districts; Familiarize oneself with local requirements; and, Remember that policies may address: rationale for textbook change, how frequently textbooks may be changed.

Textbook Information Described on the official course outline of record Input into: OSCAR (Online Services for Curriculum and Articulation Review) Utilized for review of all new CCC courses for IGETC, CSU GE, CSU LDTP, general UC transferability, and some course-to-course articulation

OERs Adhere to the Same Standards How will reviewers know my course may include an OER? Course outlines are input into an online course outline database called OSCAR by the CCC Articulation Officer. They look like this:

OER in the Outline Editor

The Illowsky and Dean text above is available on-line at

Effective Communication is Essential OSCAR Guidelines (revised January 2010) will give instructions on OER placement Get the word of OER acceptance out to faculty, especially the articulation community; Update course outlines and input OER into OSCAR as recommended Develop and implement guidelines for review of OER?

CIAC Articulation Handbook IGETC Standards Local Curriculum Committee Handbooks Resources for Documenting Texts

Resources Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources Community College Open Textbook Project OSCAR (via ASSIST)