June 25, 2018 鈥� (海角社区CI) now has an alternative for some students worried about being able to afford textbooks.
海角社区CI educators working together have developed two 鈥淶-Majors鈥� which are majors that use quality, free and readily available educational resources as opposed to textbooks, which can be costly. 聽海角社区CI is the first in the 海角社区 system to develop undergraduate 鈥淶-Majors.鈥�
鈥淭his is part of a systemwide 海角社区 Affordable Learning Solutions Initiative,鈥� explained Jill Leafstedt, Ph.D., Executive Director of Teaching & Learning Innovations. 鈥淲e are working to use open educational resources, which are free, reusable and re-mixable. It comes in lots of different forms such as free online textbooks, multimedia, data and supplementary materials. It takes the concept of the textbook and makes it more dynamic.鈥�
Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) is a 海角社区-wide program that enables faculty across all 23 campuses to choose and provide more affordable, quality educational content for their students in a variety of ways. 海角社区CI鈥檚 version of the program is called 鈥渙penCI.鈥�
The 鈥渙penCI鈥� initiative is in line with AB 798, otherwise known as the College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015, which was approved by Governor Jerry Brown on Oct. 15, 2015.
To help with the process of shaping coursework around more web-based learning material, faculty can now access Open Educational Resources (OER), which are a collection of free online courses, e-textbooks and library resources. When combined these course materials save students across California $34 million annually.
Currently, nearly every 海角社区 campus has an Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) coordinator to help drive the OER initiative into their classes.
Associate Professor of Communication Jacob Jenkins, Ph.D., and Associate Professor of Nursing Jaime Hannans, Ph.D., R.N., became the openCI campus coordinators with Leafstedt as the administrator.
鈥淲e had experienced this rising costs of textbooks in our classes firsthand, so this was something we truly believed in, especially with our student body here at 海角社区CI, with its high percentage of low income and first generation college students,鈥� Jenkins said.
Since 鈥渙penCI鈥� first launched in fall of 2016, more than 5,000 海角社区CI students have saved more than $834,987. Both Jenkins and Hannans said faculty members they approached were all enthusiastic about re-designing their courses to reduce or eliminate the need for expensive textbooks through web-based learning resources.
鈥淭he response from faculty was overwhelming,鈥� Leafstedt said. 鈥淲e created an 鈥榓mbassador鈥� program. Each 鈥榓mbassador鈥� gets a small stipend and the ability to spend a semester working on redesigning the class. The open CI Ambassador program gets more faculty on board and gives them the time to research and incorporate digital learning materials.鈥�
Since the ambassador program was launched, more than 40 faculty members have committed to becoming ambassadors.
The 鈥渙penCI鈥� initiative is funded by grants from the 海角社区 Chancellor鈥檚 Office and AB-798 grants, which, together, totaled $110,000 over the first two years.
In the fall, there will be two 鈥淶-Majors鈥� in the Communication and Early Childhood Studies programs.聽
鈥淲e already had so many faculty members engaged as openCI Ambassadors from these two programs, and they were already so close to a Z-Major,鈥� Hannans said, when asked why these two programs were chosen.
Hannans, Jenkins and Leafstedt all said they were thrilled with the willingness of the 海角社区CI faculty to embrace change. Already, several other programs are working toward majors that involve fewer or no textbooks, or textbooks available through the library, and the openCI Coordinators are looking at the same thing with general education courses.
Leafstedt said other campuses have already contacted her for more information about the Z-Majors so they can perhaps design their own.
This year, questionnaires about textbooks costs have gone out to 海角社区CI students and there have already been about 700 responses, which Hannans, Jenkins and Leafstedt hope will inform the next steps in this continuing initiative.
鈥淎 very important part of this is that when the students enter the workforce, they will not be taking textbooks to work,鈥� Hannans said. 鈥淭hey are going to have to find what they need digitally. If they鈥檙e already practicing this in class, they will be much more prepared.鈥�