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Open Educational Resources (OER) & Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at GCC

ZTC Degree Development Grant

ZTC Degree Definition

An associate degree or career technical education certificate program where all program requirements can be completed without students paying for access to textbooks and course materials (including access codes, supplemental reading, etc.).​

“ZTC” for the CCCs had been defined by the CCCCO in the context of ZTC degrees*:​

  • No associated costs for students, other than true material costs. Students may be required to purchase a calculator or supplies. ✔​
  • Does not presume materials are digital or openly licensed. ✔​
  • Resources may have a cost, but that cost is not passed along to students. ✔​

*(From OERI's XB12—A Deep Dive)

ZTC Degree Grant Background

  • 2016: Glendale awarded $149,560 Zero Textbook Cost Degree implementation grant (ECE Teacher, ECE Infant/Toddler, ECE School Age Care, ECE, Social Sciences, History, Sociology, Anthropology C & AA-T ZTC Pathways)
  • Summer 2021: California legislature designated $115 million to expand Zero Textbook Cost degrees in the California Community Colleges

Current ZTC Degree Grant Timeline

  • Fall 2022: Planning grant funds released​ ($20,000)
  • Fall 2022: Mapping of current ZTC Degree pathways at GCC
  • December 2022: Presentation to Division Chairs
  • March 2023: Presentation to Academic Senate
  • Spring 2023: Implementation grant funds released ($180,000)
  • June 30, 2023: Deadline to submit planning grant budget expenditure report
  • October 31, 2023: Deadline to submit implementation grant work plan
  • December 16, 2024: Deadline to submit Acceleration II Grant, Impact Grant, and/or OER Expansion Grant applications (see details)
  • December 31, 2024: Deadline for implementation grant Program/Fiscal Report
  • June 30, 2026: Deadline to encumber $200,000 disbursed as planning and implementation grants

ZTC Degree Requirements

Per Cal. Ed. Code § 78052, the requirements for developing a ZTC degree using this funding are as follows:

  • Choosing degree(s) to develop:
    • Develop an associate degree or career technical education certificate program, prioritizing existing associate degrees for transfer​.
  • Materials used:
    • Prioritize the adaptation of existing open educational resources before creating new content.
    • Consider sustainability after grant funding is exhausted, including how content will be updated.​ Ensure faculty shall have flexibility to update and customize degree content.​
    • Comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (Public Law 104-197) and the federal Copyright Act of 1976 (Public Law 94-553).
    • All open educational resources used as learning materials shall be added to the California Digital Open Source Library.
  • District's responsibilities:
    • Clearly identify ZTC degree in college catalogs and in class schedules.​
    • Report required data to the chancellor.
    • Consult with the local academic senate & use a multimember team approach to develop and implement the degree, including faculty, college administrators, and other content-focused staff, including, but not limited to, librarians, instructional designers, and technology experts. Can work with other colleges and universities to develop.
  • May use funds to obtain professional development and technical assistance.

Statistics

Our highest priority for using this funding has been determined to be to develop a robust ZTC option for MATH 136, Statistics, as this will unlock ZTC degree development for Associate Degrees across the college.

Statistics OER

Currently approved OER textbook: Introductory Statistics by Illowsky et al. (also available on LibreTexts platform for remixing). Next priority is to develop the ZTC Canvas shell with ancillary materials.

Available Ancillary Materials

Canvas Course Cartridges

Homework systems

  • Math Platform Evaluation Reports: BCcampus's comparative analysis of three open-source math homework systems: WeBWorK, iMathAS (MyOpenMath), and Numbas. Available reports: faculty and student user experience (User Report), technical setup (Technical Report), and accessibility (Accessibility Review).
  • MyOpenMath
    "MyOpenMath is an online course management and assessment system for mathematics and other quantitative fields. MyOpenMath’s focus is providing rich algorithmically generated assessment to support the use of free, open textbooks."
    • Introduction to Statistics (OpenStax) – MyOpenMath (CC BY 4.0)
    • VPAT (Per programmer David Lippman, "the VPAT only applies to the platform itself; all content in the system is user-created, so we cannot speak to the accessibility of individual questions or other materials people who create courses include in those courses")
  • WeBWork
    "WeBWork is an open-source online homework system for STEM courses. WeBWorK is supported by the MAA and the NSF and comes with a Open Problem Library (OPL) of over 35,000 homework problems."
  • ADAPT: Libretexts Adaptive Learning Assessment System
    From LibreText staff: "LibreTexts new open assessment and homework, ADAPT, is built with WebWork and My Open Math as part of the platform. Instructors can use ADAPT to augment existing and newly constructed OER textbooks with summative exercises and embed them in LMSs, LibreTexts textbooks, in a standalone application, and in-class clickers."
  • Numbas
    "Numbas is an online assessment system designed for mathematical subjects. Developed by mathematicians at Newcastle University, Numbas is free to use and open-source."
  • SageMath
    "SageMath is a free open-source mathematics software system licensed under the GPL... creating a viable free open source alternative to Magma, Maple, Mathematica and Matlab."

Other Instructor Resources for OpenStax text

Additional Resources (not tied to OpenStax text)

Open Datasets


Archived Webinars


Potential collaborator

From email sent to OERI listserv in February 2023:

"Reimagining Introductory Statistics and Probability: A Collaborative OER Textbook with DEIAA Assignments on the LibreTexts Platform

This project aims to create an open educational resource (OER) textbook for an introductory statistics and probability course with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism (DEIAA). The team will remix content from the OpenStax Statistics textbook and create new assignments that incorporate DEIAA-related questions. The project will be hosted on the LibreTexts platform and completed by a team of faculty members. The final product will be implemented in introductory statistics courses to promote DEIAA in statistics education.

The lead envisions a team where each member revises and prepares new assignments using MOM (MyOpenMath) which include questions related to DEIAA (diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism) from 3-4 chapters of the OpenStax Statistics textbook using the LibreTexts platform. The lead would like to complete the project with a team of fellow faculty members and implement it in the Introductory Statistics courses.

If you are interested in this opportunity or have any questions about it, please contact Chau D Tran at cdtran@coastline.edu. Please forward this message on to anyone who might be interested."

Documentation of Statistics Project

Faculty released time/stipends

  • Shell
  • Homework system
  • Chapter reviews
  • GCC-ified textbook
  • Quizzes
  • Documentation
  • PowerPoints

Hiring student worker to create datasets in Excel

Subscriptions & purchases

  • Pressbooks or LibreTexts
  • 10 copies of the book
  • Statcrunch institutional subscription
  • Geogebra institutional subscription

Outside services

  • MyOpenMath training
  • Closed captioning

Questions for the listserv/vendors:

  • Has anyone rewritten the first two chapters
  • Has anyone created datasets in Excel to accompany this book?
  • VPATs

Priorities for Development

  • Modules/textbook chapters for missing statistics content
  • Canvas course cartridge
  • Homework system
  • Videos
  • User manual for technology
  • Ensure accessibility (VPATs for system(s) and check accessibility of content on systems)
  • Training for faculty on new homework system

Draft Cost Breakdown

Goal: Create a robust Canvas course shell for MATH 136 to accompany the OER textbook Introductory Statistics by Illowsky et al.

Preliminary cost breakdown (estimating faculty time at $75 per hour):

1. Review currently available ancillary content and complete needed training: 20 hours ($1500)

2. Determine content required to be developed. Time required: 5 hours ($375)

3. Design the course materials: Create high-quality course materials, including videos, interactive exercises, and quizzes. Ensure that the course materials are aligned with the course objectives and the textbook. Time required: 60 hours ($4,500)

4. Create a course syllabus: Develop a course syllabus that outlines the course objectives, grading policy, course schedule, and other relevant information. Time required: 5 hours ($375)

5. Develop assessments: Create assessments that measure the students' understanding of the course content. These assessments may include quizzes, exams, and projects. Time required: 30 hours ($2,250)

8. Pilot test the course: Before launching the course, pilot test it with a small group of students to ensure that the course materials and assessments are effective. Time required: 15 hours ($1,125)

10. Monitor and evaluate the course: Regularly monitor and evaluate the course to ensure that it is meeting the learning objectives and to identify areas for improvement. Use student feedback to refine the course and make it even more effective. Time required: 10 hours ($750)
 

Credits

Information on this page adapted from ASCCC OERI's newsletters and OER & ZTC documentation, as well as Open & Free Materials: CoSET - Mathematics & Statistics: Mathematics & Statistics by Heather F. Adair at Sam Houston State University.

   All content on this guide is licensed CC BY 4.0 International, except where otherwise noted.

Preferred attribution: Open Educational Resources (OER) & Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at GCC by Glendale Community College (CC BY 4.0)


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