Open Educational Resources and Textbook Affordability for Faculty

Introduction 

In response to grant funds made available to each California Community College for the purpose of expanding and creating ZTC program “pathways”, the stipend program exists to adequately compensate faculty for time taken to convert their courses to meet ZTC threshold requirements. The stipend program was prepared and outlined during the spring 2023 semester and will begin accepting proposals from faculty in the fall semester of 2023.

Scope of the Stipend Program 

Faculty members interested in obtaining ZTC status for their courses will contact the campus ZTC faculty coordinator and fill out a project proposal to be reimbursed through the grant funded stipend.* The ZTC coordinator will advise and guide the faculty member on the completion of the project proposal. 

 Proposals may include, but not be limited to: 

• Faculty compile or adopt existing OER materials to reach zero textbook cost designation for their course.  

• Faculty create OER textbooks or other instructional materials for a discipline, department, or set of courses. 

• Exploring and adopting OER strategies or implementing supplementary or recommended OER materials. 

• Completing approved OER/ZTC Canvas training courses offered by the ASCCC or other approved organizational bodies. 

Proposal Criteria 

The application process is open to all full time and adjunct faculty. Proposals that will be considered for funding should: 

• Adequately reflect the purpose of the Chancellor’s Office ZTC Degree mission to identify and increase the number of ZTC program pathways offered at CCCs. 
• Focus on sustainable methods of lowering costs or maintaining ZTC status beyond the expiration of grant funds. 
• Proposals should not be used to underwrite ongoing costs of current college operations or reimburse faculty for work already completed. 
• Include clearly stated and measurable outcomes that will be reported to the ZTC Coordinator. 
• Contain a concrete timeline for completion. 

Grant funds are NOT available for: 

• Any projects for which other funding or release time has been awarded, or for work already completed. 
• Conferences or travel. 
• Class sets of traditionally published textbooks.  
• Classroom equipment such as iPads, computers, or supplementary resources like art kits or lab equipment. 

Creative Commons Licensing 

If a proposal involves creating new curriculum or collections of texts, stipend awardees must openly license their created resources with a Creative Commons license. 

Evaluation 

Proposals will be evaluated by the faculty ZTC coordinator, and the approval process will be reported to the Academic Senate-appointed task force. 

Reporting 

Faculty who received stipends will track and report progress towards the completion of their proposed projects. The Chancellor’s Office grant funds require detailed reporting on how funds were spent and what progress has been made towards the goal of increasing ZTC offerings at each campus. 

Categories of Stipend Projects 

1. ZTC and OER Research and Investigation - $300 

   • Working with the ZTC Coordinator to learn more about OER and ZTC conversion, goals, and available initiatives. 

   • Completing approved OER and ZTC professional development courses. 

2. ZTC and OER Adoption and Teaching- $600 

   • Converting an existing course to ZTC designation in the next semester’s course catalog through the adoption of existing OER or library materials. 

   • Demonstrate and offer tangible workshops and guidance to other faculty in a related discipline interested in adopting OER and converting courses to ZTC. 

3. OER (Partial) Creator for ZTC Conversion - $1,500 

   • Taking existing OER content and creating new and unique course materials that are open access and for the expressed purpose of reaching ZTC designation for a course otherwise taught with a traditionally high-cost textbook. 

4. OER Authorship for ZTC Conversion - $5,000 

   • Creation of instructional material that is previously unavailable or unique to the curriculum of the related course/degree pathway. 

   • Department’s can also seek multiple stipends for faculty collaborating together to convert multiple courses to ZTC through curriculum creation.