OER At ACC:  A Brief History

ACC faculty across the district have successfully taught with OER or zero cost resources for a number of years. However, the widespread adoption of OER at an institutional level started in 2016. From 2016-2019, ACC participated in the Achieving the Dream OER Degree Initiative Grant. The college officially launched two OER degree pathways (now branded Z-Degrees) in the Associate of Arts and Associate of Science in General Studies. These pathways create opportunities for students to earn a degree by enrolling in courses which use OER or other freely available course materials, hence zero textbook cost (ZTC).  In November of 2019 ACC was awarded the prestigious STAR Award from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) for the college's accomplishments and efforts in saving thousands of students money in textbook costs.

During the 2019-2020 academic year ACC participated in the OpenStax Institutional Partnership Program. Through this program faculty awareness and adoption of OER increased. You can read more about the college's experience in the program and outcomes in this August 13, 2020 Faculty / Staff Digest article, ACC students have saved more than $10 million in textbook costs, with savings continuing to amass for our ACC Students!

The number of ZTC/OER sections has steadily increased since 2016. The fall 2020 semester had 1081 ZTC/OER course section offerings impacting more than 20,000 students. Since the college started tracking ZTC/OER sections in 2017, faculty who adopted ZTC/OER materials for their courses have saved ACC students $9.7 million! Watch for updated statistics in future  ACC TLED LS OER newsletters!

In addition to ZTC/OER classes ACC offers three Z Degrees: Associate of Arts in General Students, an Associate of Science in General Studies, and an Associate of Applied Science in Auto Body Collision & Refinishing Technology.

• • • • Z-Degree Information for Students

More zero textbook cost courses are absolutely in ACC’s future, as more and more faculty are choosing to adopt OER or zero cost resources in their classes.

The ACC Hub on OERTX

On September 1, 2020, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board launched OERTX, a digital repository of open educational resources for the state of Texas. OERTX is provided through a partnership between the Coordinating Board and the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME). The creation of the repository was made possible by an appropriation from the Texas Legislature, House Bill 3652 (86th Texas Legislature).

As a result of ACC's OER efforts, the Coordinating Board and ISKME invited ACC to serve as an early adopter and contributor to OERTX by creating a Hub space specific to ACC OER.

Through the creation of an institutional ACC Hub on OERTX, we are provided with an opportunity to expand the discovery, creation, and dissemination of OER among ACC faculty. TLED Library Services in partnership with other TLED experts are working to seamlessly and accurately add OER that is faculty authored, adopted, and course relevant to the repository for further use and dissemination.

The Hub identifies OER in use at ACC. Resources are organized into broad collections by Area of Study. Additional information was added to each OER record to show alignment with the Texas Core Curriculum courses, co-requisite courses, and career and technical fields. The OER in the Hub matches the OER to the academic and workforce course manual and specifies the ACC course a particular OER supports. As more open educational resources are identified, they will be added to the repository to expand the collections. Other features of the OERTX and the ACC Hub include collaborative groups for project and resource sharing and a free authoring tool for creating and remixing OER. 

OER at ACC: Improving Student Success & Persistence

The 2020-21 ACC Student Success Report  (pgs. 2, 71-74) highlights how the use of open educational resources by ACC faculty  impacts student success and persistence. With the rapid pivot in teaching and learning in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the college experienced a dip in student persistence and engagement. However, in courses where OER was used by ACC faculty, success and persistence rates remained high. 

ACC started tracking OER course section data in spring 2017. From spring 2017 through fall 2020 students who were enrolled in OER course sections achieved the same or greater success (course grade A, B, or C) than students who were enrolled in course sections using non-OER materials. The eight semester average shows that students in OER course sections achieved a 75.4% success rate versus a 72.3% success rate for students in non-OER course sections. Data disaggregated by gender and by race/ethnicity of ACC students reflects these same trends in success and persistence.

In the fall 2020 semester more ACC students were enrolled in OER course sections than non-OER sections of the same course.

An early Teaching and Learning  OER Podcast episode featuring Dr. Gaye Lynn Scott, Associate Vice President  of Academic Transfer Programs and Carrie Gits, Former Head Librarian at the ACC Highland Campus provides an insightful conversation about OER at ACC. In the episode the guests discuss definitions of ZTC and OER used at the institution, they provide updates on OER at ACC, and they share their perspective on the impacts OER has on our students and faculty. The full episode {39:00} audio and text transcript are available here.

Zero Textbook Cost: ZTC (free) vs. OER (open = free + permissions)

Looking back at Module 2, you learned that free and open are not synonymous. A resource, like an eBook or streaming video from a library database, may be free to use by your students, but it is not openly licensed. Instead that eBook and video are copyrighted all rights reserved. They can still be used as a zero-cost resource as course material, but the permissions on reuse, modification, and redistribution are different. 

Institutionally, ACC has branded ZTC courses in such a way that allow for faculty to label free zero cost resources (such as library resources) AND/OR free open educational resources. The current terminology noted in the course schedule for students states:

This is a ZTC-class (Zero Textbook Costs section). In place of required textbooks, all textbook materials needed for the class will be available online to students free of charge. Students may print copies of the resources but will be responsible for printing costs. Course materials may be Open Educational Resources (OER), see syllabus for specifics.

As classroom faculty, whether you choose to use an open educational resource or other freely available course material is the decision of you and your department. However, it is important to keep in mind and apply what you’ve learned in these modules:

• • Keep the distinctions between free and open clear. 

  • Fully understand the reuse, adaptation, and redistribution permissions for the material you’ve chosen. 

  • Adopt tools to track, organize, and evaluate your resources.

  • Fully understanding the differences between free and open can save you, your department, and the institution from copyright violations as well as challenges to the fair use permissions. 

Marking Your ZTC/OER Courses

In 2017, the Texas Legislature passed SB 810 relating to open educational resources. This was discussed earlier in Module 2. One aspect of this legislation establishes protocols for OER course designations in course catalogs. Below is an excerpt from the legislation:

If an institution of higher education or a college bookstore publishes a textbook list with a course schedule on an Internet website that provides a search function, the institution or bookstore must:

(1)  ensure that the search function permits a search based on whether a course or section of a course requires or recommends only open educational resources; or

(2)  provide a searchable list of courses and sections of courses that require or recommend only open educational resources.

Identifying your class & course material adoption as ZTC/OER

Information in this section illustrates the importance of why you should identify that you are teaching with ZTC/OER materials. 

Effective February 5, 2021 Faculty Enlight, the BN College textbook selection platform will no longer be used.  If your course uses ZTC/OER content, do not use the Adoption & Insights Portal. The specific process and steps for doing so is evolving. Contact your Department Chair for details. 

Please check with your Department Chair or Administrative Assistant for specific instructions on documenting your ZTC/OER course sections:

• As the new OER adoption process is refined and rolled out, work with your Department Chair and Administrative Assistants to document your ZTC/OER  adoptions per your AVP requests. This may require entering the information into departmental specific spreadsheets.  Additional questions can be sent to GM130@BNCollege.com

Remember, the biggest benefit to students is when they can PLAN their ZTC/OER course selections ahead of time. Properly identifying your course section as OER also ensures we are in compliance with the requirements of SB810.

Student Discoverability of ZTC/OER Courses

In a survey of ACC students enrolled in ZTC/OER course sections, respondents revealed that the number one factor they consider when choosing one course section over another is that the chosen section best fits their schedule. Additional factors include that the course is a requirement for their major, personal interest in the course, course format (online, hybrid, F2F), the course material cost, and the instructor reputation. Students have access to a variety of tools to help them navigate the registration system and gain access to their course materials. It is important faculty accurately identify their course material selection so students can make an informed choice about their degree plan and course selections. Below are several examples of how ZTC/OER course sections are presented to and discovered by ACC students.

ACC Support for ZTC/OER

There are faculty and staff across the district who can help you with adoption, use, and creation of open educational resources. Start the conversations with the colleagues in your department, many of whom have experience with open educational resources. You are also encouraged to reach out to the departments or individuals listed below:

• • • Dr. Gaye Lynn Scott, Associate Vice President, Academic Transfer Programs, 512-223-7841 gls@austincc.edu

    • ACC Faculty Librarians Faculty Librarians by Subject & Campus - TLED Library Services

    • TLED Teaching Consultation Requests (Instructional Designers, Librarians, Academic Technology, Distance Education, Faculty Development)

    • ACC Bookstore, Textbook Manager 512.476.1921 ext 2 OR 512.474.2607 ext 2  GM130@BNCollege.com - ACC Bookstores

Celebrate ACC Textbook Heroes!

Library Services identifies ACC faculty who are supporting student success by working toward removing the barrier of high-cost course materials. These individuals are teaching with Open Educational Resources, free, or other low/no-cost course materials. 

Are you a textbook hero? Is someone in your department a textbook hero ? Tell us more here!

Support from the Open Community

ACC is an institutional member of several organizations supporting open education and open educational resources. These communities, which are made up of open education experts from around the world, are excellent resources for questions, support, and collaboration. You are encouraged to take advantage of the free training, listservs, and the wealth of knowledge this community can provide.

• • • • Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER)

      • SPARC ( Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)

      • DigiTex (Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas)

      • Texas OER Community (Higher Ed) Google Group

Attributions

Information for this module was consulted and adapted from

Austin Community College 2021 Student Success Report by ACC Chancellor & Office of the Provost is licensed all rights reserved by Austin Community College.

"OER at Austin Community College" by ACC Teaching & Learning Excellence is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Teaching & Learning Champions Podcast Episode 23 by ACC Teaching & Learning Excellence is licensed all rights reserved by Austin Community College.