Open ContentOpens Minds

Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources

Sloan-C International Symposium

May 9, 2008

Remember this rite of passage?

For many students…

The first testis their ability to afford the textbooks.

Or, is it that test of fitness to carry all those textbooks?

Lighten the load

Lighten the load

withOpen

Educational Resources

Use of OER can replace this scene with …..

What areOpen Educational Resources?

• High quality educational content and tools

• Freely available from the internet, anytime, anywhere

• Many languages

• Shared

• Usable and re-usable

Used: $77.25  

New: $103.00

2.6 pounds

576 pages

ExamplePHYS 4A: General Physics

        

600 pages

Used $125.00  

New $179.00 

Free Download

Tools for Locating, Organizing,and Delivering OER

Discipline-specific Sources

Tools for Collaborationand Development

Lowers the costs of educational materials

for students

Benefits of OER

Benefits

Fosters pedagogical innovation

and relevance that avoids

“teaching from the textbook”

Benefits•Provides opportunities to share and remix learning materials for customized and localized use

•Fast feedback loop on quality and relevance of learning materials leading to continual improvement and rapid development

Challenges• Resources for

faculty support

• Quality assurance of learning materials

• Limited availability of fully vetted and comprehensive learning materials in some disciplines

• Articulation and transfer issues

• Compliance with accessibility requirements

• Printing and computer lab demands on campus by students

Community College Consortium for OER

• Why a Consortium?

– Give community college educators a presence and a voice in the OER movement

– Coordinate development ofcommunity college quality standards for OER textbooks and course materials

– Leverage funding opportunities– Facilitate collaboration, communications and

networking

Consortium gives community college educators

a presence and a voice in the OER movement

Community College Consortiumfor Open Educational Resources

• Established in July 2007 by the Foothill-De Anza Community College District

• Representatives from over 20 colleges attended the first CCCOER information meeting on July 17, 2007

• Advance the vision for making OER widely available to community colleges in order to increase access and reduce the cost of a college education.

• Promote faculty innovation, training and OER development for the Consortium community.

Goals

Community College Consortium for OER

• Goal – To identify, create and/or repurpose

existing OER as Open Textbooks and make them available for use by community college students and faculty

• Objective  – Seeking the support of faculty to

identify, review, evaluate, and make available high quality, accessible and culturally relevant model Open Textbooks

CCCOER: Progress to Date

• Membership – 64 colleges– CA, MD, NY, WA, NV, Ontario

• Website – cccoer.wordpress.com• OER Survey of 1,203 faculty • Developed faculty self-paced tutorial and credit

course about OER– Available online via Connexions and ETUDES NG

• Co-hosted Open Textbook Meeting in Jan 2008• OER presentations at state and national

professional meetings and colleges; participation in California Textbook Summit

CA, MD, NY, WA, NV, Ontario

Consortium Membership Benefits

• Participation in development of community college quality standards for OER textbooks and course materials

• Networking with community college OER innovators

Websitecccoer.wordpress.com

cccoer.wordpress.com

Faculty OERCampus Promotion Kit

• Policies and Models• Marketing Materials • Quick Start Guides • Training Course • Directories and Repositories• Resources for Collaboration• Open Content Licenses • Copyright Info• Accessibility Info

• Case Studies• OER Websites• Glossary• References

http://cnx.org/content/col10413/latest/

CCCOER Survey Results

• 1,203 faculty respondents– 12 Districts and 28 colleges– 66% full-time– Represent wide range of

disciplines

• 91% indicated interest in usingOER materials in their classes

• 34% said they were aware of OER materials in their field

CCCOER Survey Results

• 34% already using OER materials in their classes• Greatest type of OER use reported

– Journals and journal articles– Reference works and materials– Newspaper articles– Images

• 87% likely or very likely to use OER materials if such materials were readily accessible

• 66% interested in helping to produce or identify OER materials

• Support needed for faculty to develop of OER– Training– Guidelines and/or templates– Paid compensation or stipend– Website repository of OER materials

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Faculty Respondents

Interested

Aware

Using

Would Use

Would Help

OER Survey

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Faculty Respondents

Interested

Aware

Using

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OER Survey

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Faculty Respondents

Interested

Aware

Using

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Would Help

CCCOERcan fill this gap

OER Survey

Hewlett Foundation GrantOpen Textbook Project

• Increase scope and membership of CCCOER

• Centralize Open Textbook information

• Document work flow model

• Design and conduct research studies • Develop sustainability plan

Community College Open Textbook Project

• Hewlett Foundation Grant– Feasibility study to provide

high quality, accessible and culturally relevant open textbooks for community college students and faculty through the CCCOER and other academic, noncommercial and commercial partners

Community CollegeOpen Textbook Project

GoalIdentify, organize, and support the production and use of high quality, accessible and culturally relevant Open Textbooks for

community college students

CCCOER Collaboration

– Textbook Summit– Student PIRG– Connexions– Monterey Institute for Technology and

Education– Institute for the Study of Knowledge

Management in Education– Flat World Knowledge

Workflow Summary

• Locate, collect and develop open content• Vet the content

– Quality• Depth, breadth, cultural relevancy,

authority of source, etc.

– Technical• Accessibility, interoperability, etc.

• Prepare open content for CC use– Customize, organize, localize, convert for

accessibility, interoperability

• Provide publication and dissemination options

Proposed Workflow for Campuses

• Form Taskforce on campus to address adoption of open textbooks– Curriculum approval– Pedagogical standards– Articulation– Tech support– Bookstore and print shop services – Library– Faculty and department participation– Faculty training in development of OER– Marketing

Proposed Workflow for Campuses

• Foster community of educators who will use and contribute to open content appropriate for use as textbook at community colleges

– Educate campus community about OER and open textbooks

– Provide model Board policies about OER

– Provide model tenure and promotionincentives for faculty to participate in OER

– Provide guide for development and implementation of campus Taskforce to address adoption of open textbooks

What Sustainability and

Business Models

are most viable for the

Community College

Open Textbook Project?

Sustainability

• Unique sustainability challenges of open educational resource projects

• Must find ways to sustain– Production and sharing of

open educational resources– Use and reuse of their open

educational resources by end users

Sustainability• Explore the viability of institutional

and/or student use fees

• Examine the relationship and cost-models for Connexion’s digital university press and the campus

• Bookstores and Printshops as point-of-purchase centers for Open Textbooks

• Identify sources of operating support from states, institutions, foundations and other complementary organizations

“Sustainability is more than funding models.”

~ S. Downes ~

• Quality processes• Technical• Openness, access

and licenses• Staffing• Workflow• Maintenance

Connexions Statistics Open Textbook Project

Collaborative Statistics

by Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean

OCPS Television,1998, Pics4Learning

Content Review Panel

• Five CCCOER members – Two University of California representatives– Two California State University representatives– Two other experts

• Determine and define the necessary elementsof a model CC Open Textbook– Reading level– Depth and scope – Quality and accuracy– Cultural relevance– Currency– Authority of source

Technical Panel

• Interoperability standards

• Content dissemination processes

• Accessibility

Open Textbook Adoption Tasks• Locate and categorize suitable open content

– Topics by top courses that represent 80% of enrollments– Reading level– Depth and scope

• Evaluate– Quality– Accessibility– Cultural relevance– Currency– Authority– Articulation

• Customize, Remix, Localize and Organize– Interoperability– Accessibility– License type– Cultural relevance

• Disseminate in print and digital formats – Student (DIY) for production of open textbook– Campus bookstore and/or printshop services for production of open textbook– Proprietary services

Next Steps• Identification of

Campus OER Champions

• Building Faculty Engagement & Investment

• Training Needs

• Identifying Discipline Experts

• Growing the Consortium

Kenneth Ransom,, 2000. Pics4Learning