A Tale of Two

Colleges’ OER

ProjectsLearnings and Plans for Sustainability

Regina Gong, Lansing Community College & Tina Ulrich, Northwestern Michigan College

1

Michigan Academic Library Association (MI-ALA) Mini Conference

December 9, 2016

Photo credit: opensourceway via flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)By Tina Ulrich & Regina Gong. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international license. Some materials used have more restrictive licenses. Please note those licenses when using this presentation.

Perry, Mark J. "The new era of the $400 college textbook, which is part of the unsustainable higher education bubble”." AEIdeas. https://www.aei.org/publication/the-new-era-of-the-400-college-textbook-which-is-part-of-the-unsustainable-higher-education-bubble/. 25 July 2015.

Impact on Students

What librarians see

 CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay

Community College Freshmen . . . • Are often first generation college

students

• Want to do things “right”

• Are afraid to ask questions for fear of looking dumb

• Often do not have credit cards or cash in the bank to buy used books online

• Often pay for their books using financial aid and therefore have to buy at the bookstore

Textbooks & Financial Aid

• 30% of students use financial aid for textbooks

• $3.15 billion a year, in financial aid on textbooks.

• $200 = $246 if you pay for it over 10 years

Senack, Ethan, and Robert Donoghue. Covering the Cost: Why We Can No Longer Afford to Ignore High Textbook Prices. Rep. Student Public Interest Research Groups, Feb. 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

Source: 2016 student survey by Florida Virtual Campus: http://bit.ly/2ecUPOBSlide: CC-BY Cable Green, Creative Commons via http://www.project-kaleidoscope.org

Textbooks Costs & Student Success

66% do not purchase books at some point due to book cost

47.6% take fewer courses due to book cost

45.5% choose not to register for a course due to book cost

26% have dropped a course due to book cost

20.7% have withdrawn from a course due to book cost

A+ Job! | Timothy Valentine | Flickr CC-BY-NC-SA

Only one in five students said that all their resources were legally obtained.Ravipati, Sri. "Only 1 in 5 Students Obtain All Learning Materials Legally.“ Campus Technology. Public Sector Media Group, 13 Apr. 2016. Web. 08 June 2016.By Evil Pirate (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL ], via Wikimedia Commons.

Digital materials, offered freely and openly for educators and students to use and re-use for teaching, learning,

and research.

Source: The Open Ecosystem by Clobridge Consulting is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License.

Open Education is part of an Open Ecosystem

OER come in many forms:• open textbooks• full courses• modules• syllabi• lectures• homework assignments• quizzes• lab activities• games• simulations

OER Repositories

open > free

open = free +

permission

Source: http://lumenlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/5Rs-Graphic.jpg

open licensing systemwww.creativecommons.org

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/3020966268/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Open Content / Open Licenses

licensesmost open

least open

(OER)

(Not OER)

CC license image from Copyright in Education & Internet in South African Law used under CC-BY 2.5 South Africa license

NMC’s OER Story

How this all started . . . .

Textbooks on Reserve

Textbooks in the Curriculum Collection | at SSHEL. Author: University of Illinois Library. CC-BY 2.0.

Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources

Northwestern Michigan CollegeOpen Educational Resources Pilot Project

• $5,000 Innovation Grant

• Application process to choose 10 faculty members

• $500 or an Ipad

• Adapt one course to use all free materials

• Help from library and educational tech staff

• Teach the class in Fall 2015

• Survey students and faculty

OER Pilot Project – Fall 2015

•  SWK 121    Introduction to Social Work• HST 112   U.S. History from 1875• GEO 109   World Regional Geography• BUS 231  Professional Communications• MFG 111   Math for Manufacturing• PSY 225   Human Sexuality• MTH 120   Mathematical Explorations• MKT 241   Principles of Advertising• PHY 105   Physics of the World Around Us• ENG111 Composition

$58,826

$5,000 from

Student Savings at NMC

Pilot Project$58,826Seven other faculty including SOC101: $83,535

Total Student Savings – Fall 2015 $142,361

 Tax Credits Savings | Flickr

RESULTS

Survey results mostly positive

Enthusiasm from faculty

Affirmation from peers

Lots of press

THE ADMIN?

NOT SO MUCH

By Tim Herrick (originally posted to Flickr as Provins citadel) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What we accomplished

• Saved students $58,000

• Assembled a great team of librarians, ed techs, instructional

designers, faculty

• Established a solid relationship with faculty

• Opened a channel of communication with the bookstore

• Amassed pool of knowledge and experience

OE

RC

omm

ons

Hub

www.oercommons.org/hubs/mco

Fall 2016• ANT 102 Underwater Archaeology

• BUS 231 Professional Communications

• CIT 178 Relational Databases

• CIT 208 Mobile Apps-Responsive Design

• COM 111 Public Speaking

• EDU 101 Introduction to Teaching

• ENG 99 Intro to College Reading/Writing

• ENG 108 Critical Reading Strategies

• ENG 111 English Composition

• ENG 112 English Composition

• GEO 109 World Regional Geography

• HST 111 U.S. History

• HST 112 U.S. History

• MFG 111 Math for Manufacturing

• MTH 120 Mathematical Explorations

• PHL 101 Introduction to Philosophy

• PHL 202 Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas

• PSY 101 Introduction to Psychology

• PSY 250 Abnormal Psychology

• SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology

•20 courses•29 faculty•1,527 students•$152,700 savings•Total $350,000

HOPES & DREAMS  CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay.

•Faculty stipends for adopting, adapting, developing

•OER Policy (include IP in faculty contract)

•Free/low-cost textbook indicator in registration

•College-wide initiative (like LCC’s summit)

•Someday a Z-degree

•Active student group

HOPES & DREAMS

LCC’S OER STORY

Source: Photos courtesy of Lansing Community College Photos via Flickr

• College-wide discussion & “mandate” to make textbook affordable in 2014

• OER as solution proposed in January 2015• Librarian led with some faculty champions• Got buy-in from administration first • Focused on OER awareness in spring 2015

semester• OER Summit at LCC held in fall 2015• Pilot started in fall 2015 semester

OER Initiative at LCC

Pilot courses using OER (fall 2015) GRMN 115HIST 211HIST 212PSYC 200PSYC 202

Courses using OER (as of fall 2016) BIOL 127 – All sectionsBIOL 128 – All sectionsBIOL 270 – 1 sectionECON 201 – All sectionsECON 202 – All sectionsGRMN 121 – All sections GRMN 122 – All sections

HIST 211 – 5 sectionsHIST 212 – 4 sectionsMUSC 168 – 1 sectionPHIL 151 - 3 sectionsPHIL 153 - 2 sectionsPSYC 200 – All sectionsPSYC 202 – 3 sectionsSOCL 120 – 10 sectionsWRIT 121 – 4 sections

OER Adoptions at LCC

Fall 2015 Spring 2016 Summer 2016 Fall 20160

20

40

60

80

100

120

59

3

1411

17

3

101

Courses & Sections Using OER

No. of Courses Using OER No. of Sections Using OER

OER Adoptions at LCC

Fall 2015 Spring 2016 Summer 2016 Fall 20160

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

5

11

3

45

No. of Faculty Using OER

Students Impacted by OER

3,622 total students impacted

Textbook Costs Savings

Fall 2015 Spring 2016 Summer 2016 Fall 2016 $-

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000

$63,287$76,370

$18,322

$372,892

Total Textbook Cost Savings

Source: Chalkboard with success by go digital https://flic.kr/p/HVehEN via Flickr CC-BY-SA

Support from our Administration (Provost, President, BOT, Deans)

Academic Senate heavily involved

Faculty engaging in open education practices

OER Policy drafted

Student awareness and participation increasing

Continued support for professional development

Source: Chalkboard with success by go digital https://flic.kr/p/HVehEN via Flickr CC-BY-SA

“Partnership” with our 3rd party College bookstore

Assessment of OER efficacy through student and faculty surveys

OpenStax strategic partnership program participant (2016-2017)

Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) institutional membership

Collaboration with the MI Department of Education & K-12 #GoOpen districts for a statewide OER vision

What our students are saying…“I think that the Open Textbook is an amazing concept. Students pay a lot of money as it is for tuition, let alone textbooks. This concept alleviates so much stress for students and allows us to access our textbooks very easily.”

“I was immediately relieved the first day of class when finding out I would not need to pay for another textbook. My professor provided enough in-class time to discuss history beyond the online text.”

“This was my first class using an a free online textbook, and personally I loved it. Typically, I don't spend much money on textbooks. I search different book buying websites and usually buy old editions only to later sell them. Nevertheless, the fact that this book was free was even better. The free book did not demand any more of my time or nor my money. Moreover, digital books allow me to word search the contents of the book. This feature was highly valuable to me. I find free online textbooks to be my favorite route. It saves me time, money, and is easier. Plus, if I truly desire a hard-copy, I can either print one or purchase one myself. It is the best of all worlds.”

“I think this is a really great option for the poor starving student. Everybody should have access to education and this really helps level that playing field.”

• Encourage more OER adoptions• Work on offering Z-degree starting Fall

2018• Work with faculty to have more of

their own content openly licensed• Support faculty with OER creation

through grants• More in-depth assessment of impact

to student retention and successSource: http://mazeway.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/MovingForwardTogether.jpg

Moving forward

Máté Molnár [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL] via Wikimedia Commons

http://libguides.lcc.edu/oer

http://nmc.libguides.com/oer/

Tina UlrichLibrary DirectorNorthwestern Michigan CollegeTraverse City, MItulrich@nmc.edu 231-995-1063

Regina GongOER Project ManagerLansing Community CollegeLansing, MIgongr1@lcc.edu517-483-1663 @drgong