History and Background
The initial formation of the Zero Textbook Cost Program (ZTC), Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Pedagogy movement here at College of Marin started in the late Fall of 2016. Namely, the Project Director, Susan Rahman; Administrative Support, Dawn Lucier; Access and Assistive Technology Specialist, Elle Dimopoulos as well as the efforts of a number of key faculty members including Dayna Quick and Nancy Willet were all instrumental in the creation of the ZTC workgroup. The ZTC project team would also like to recognize any past OER efforts by existing and past Faculty who have contributed to the success of the campus community without regard for personal recognition: Thank you.
The ZTC Team would also like to recognize the leadership and kindness of Senior VP, Jonathan Eldridge for his continued support and expert guidance towards this effort.
Goalposts and Opportunities for Change
- Fund grant supported OER position/s through two years as it will require subject matter expertise at 1 FTE as recommend by the Community College Consortium for OER
- Create Communities of Practice for OER adoption to increase AAT/AST pathway option
- Incentivize OER adoption by providing training, release time and support for Faculty
- Increase Library collaboration to support the library textbook program including funding pilot access to OER ebook platforms like ProQuest’s eBrary and Academic Films on Demand.
- Provide institutional supports for open pedagogy and COP models
- Measure impact on student success, completion and retention
How we work
Zero Textbook Cost Program (ZTC) encourages faculty members and students to participate in the mission of College of Marin by fostering open scholarship both locally and globally.
As a public institution, we are entrusted by the community to serve, support and promote effective change through education. In service to this mission, our charge is twofold: to provide a platform for access to equitable and open educational materials leading to a Zero Textbook Cost degree and more broadly, to ensure that any instructional material, courses or research generated by competitive grants are accessible to all.
Defining the challenge
Everyone who has been or knows a student has some experience with the high cost of textbooks. Over the lifetime of their degree-earning career, a typical student can expect to pay about an average of $100 per class for their textbooks. This model is ultimately unsustainable and does not align with our mission of equal access to education, opportunity, and success. Whether you are an educator or a student, the high cost of textbooks is a challenge that the California Community College system can't ignore.
According to a recent report by PIRG, two important facts stand out:
- High textbook costs continue to deter students from purchasing their assigned materials despite concern for their grades.
65% of students said that they had decided against buying a textbook because it was too expensive. The survey also found that 94% of students who had foregone purchasing a textbook were concerned that doing so would hurt their grade in a course. More than half of the students felt significant concern for their grade. - High textbook costs can have a ripple effect on students’ other academic decisions.
Nearly half of all students surveyed said that the cost of textbooks impacted how many/which classes they took each semester.
What we're doing to support student success here at COM
College of Marin is actively supporting the adoption of Open Education Resources with the creation of Zero Textbook Cost degree pathways for students to effectively meet its obligations pursuant to bill SB1359. In summary, it states:
Existing law urges textbook publishers to take specified actions aimed at reducing the amounts that students pay for textbooks, including providing to faculty and departments considering textbook orders a list of all the different products the publisher sells. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and requests the Regents of the University of California, to take specified actions with their respective academic senates, college and university bookstores, and faculty to promote the selection of textbooks that will result in cost savings to students.
This bill would require each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and would request each campus of the University of California, to identify in the online version of the campus course schedule its courses that exclusively use digital course materials, as specified, and communicate to students that the course materials for these courses are free of charge and therefore not required to be purchased. By imposing new duties on community college districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would become operative on January 1, 2018.
How can you help
If you are a current member of the Faculty or an institutional member of College of Marin, browse around to see what your fellow colleagues and scholars are doing to support OER both locally and globally or contact us directly.