Z DEGREE
Overview
Guidelines for textbook affordability were adopted by the Idaho State Board of Education in June 2021 and in October of that year the Project Z initiative was launched (above). Each community college in Idaho was tasked with identifying a project coordinator and drafting a plan for implementation for the Fall 2023 semester. This plan also included identifying (minimum) one Associate Degree pathway with at least one course supporting said pathway.
North Idaho College // Z-Degree Pathways
General Studies (AA)
Education (AA)
North Idaho College Testimonials
Coming Soon!
OER in the Classroom
More available on Valuing OER page
"Studies show that 93% of students who use OER do as well or better than those using traditional materials, since they have easy access to the content starting day one of the course."
< SPARC. Open Education. https://sparcopen.org/open-education/ >
"Results of the present studies shed light on how increasing use of OER may affect student perceptions of their instructors and their course selections. Study 1 demonstrated that students who were enrolled in actual courses using OER rated their instructors significantly more positively on many descriptors (e.g., approachable, encouraging, kind) than students enrolled in courses using a commercial textbook. However, this effect did not generalize to Study 2 where participants were evaluating hypothetical courses and instructors. Study 2 further revealed that when participants were selecting courses for a hypothetical semester, they were more likely to select courses when they were listed as zero cost than when they were listed with an associated textbook cost."
< Nusbaum AT and Cuttler C. (2020) Hidden Impacts of OER: Effects of OER on Instructor Ratings and Course Selection. Front. Educ. 5:72. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2020.00072 >
IMPACT FACTORS FOR ALLOCATING FUNDS
1. Will course materials support a ‘Z Degree’ pathway (GEM) and how often is the course offered?
Is it offered each semester, annually, or only as needed?
2. Student Savings
Will it be used in a single section, multiple sections, or adopted by all sections for a course (e.g. COMM 101)? What cost savings are experienced with the transition (i.e. cost of previous textbook to open materials)?
3. Sustainability
Is it being offered by a single individual? Is there support from the Division to adopt where appropriate? What is the plan for maintaining?
4. Shared and Open?
Will this project be made available to others with a CC license that allows for adoption or adaption/remix?
WHAT QUALIFIES?
TYPES OF USE + COMPENSATION
LEVEL 1: Curation of free resources from Molstead Library, etc. (e.g. reading lists within Canvas)
LEVEL 2: Adoption
LEVEL 3: Adaption
LEVEL 4: Creation
STIPENDS
The first outcome of the stipend process (with consideration of the impact factors above), is to provide as many faculty with the chance to identify if their course content can be supported with an existing, well-developed OER. The second outcome or stage is to train and support faculty in OER practices, especially those who were not able to find well-developed OER for their course with a quick search.
Compensation // North Idaho College
1. Implementation of free resources (Enhancement) (No monetary compensation)
2. Investigation & Adoption (Monetary or Enhancement) ($500 max)
3. Training & Adaption (Monetary & Enhancement) ($1000.00 max) *
4. Creation (Monetary & Enhancement) ($2000.00 max) *
* Release time or additional credit hours? (included in STAGE 2 survey)
OER Workgroup STRONGLY urges making 'Adaption' or 'Creation' projects open and available via Pressbooks or under Creative Commons licensing.
TERMS & DEFINITIONS
Idaho SBOE // Section. III // University Instructional Material Access & Affordability Enhancement
Enhancement
“Course Marking is the act of assigning specific attributes (e.g., letters, numbers, graphic symbols, colors, etc.) to course sections that help students quickly identify important information and make informed decisions at time of registration.”
North Idaho College: ‘Very Low Cost’ marking/icon is added to online course catalog and allow for students to refine search by icon type to easily discover Z-Degree courses.
[ Example]
Instructional Materials
“Instructional Materials are print or digital media used to support access to knowledge. Books, articles, lab manuals, study guides, software, subscriptions, modules, multimedia, assessments, assignments, courseware, and full courses are common examples of instructional materials.”
North Idaho College: Instructional materials that are included in student lab fees (e.g. manuals) do not count against the instructional materials total (see graphic).
