In the Spring of 2012, the math department at SCC made the commitment to use only Open Educational Resources in their developmental mathematics courses and for college algebra. Along with that commitment came the realization that replacing the existing course materials involved much more than finding textbooks. Textbooks needed to be adopted and modified to fit the curriculum, workbooks and videos needed developed for tutorials and practice problems, online homework software needed refined and configured and instructors materials had to be created.
This kicked off what turned out to be a mad scramble and a massive amount of activity to prepare for the fall semester. The activity continued through the fall and spring as faculty made efforts to improve and enhance the materials even further. Along the way, the teams ran into obstacles, made compromises and experienced success.
Our results have been overwhelmingly positive for both students and faculty. 40+ instructors in 65 course sections utilized the OER materials and the cost savings for students in Fall 2012 were well over $180,000. Results of a student/faculty survey indicated that most felt that the materials met their needs both inside and outside the classroom as well or better than high cost textbooks.
In this session, our faculty team will: ? Describe how the project came about and why it was important. ? Share the process used to bring together existing and newly developed OER Materials to create a complete learning system. ? Share samples of the OER Materials developed, including: o Samples of OER books and workbook materials. o Samples of created resources including Livescribe videos, Softchalk lessons, and Screencasts. o The configuration of the online homework system (MathAS), including the complete set of online Homework/Quiz questions. ? Discuss the challenges faced and how they were meet, including: o Ensuring that faculty, full time and adjunct, felt included in the process and had the resources they needed. o Printing and istribution of the materials and working with the Bookstore. o Licensing and copyright issues ? Share the results of the project in terms of student success and student/instructor feedback. ? Share how the materials are being adopted and adapted at other colleges within the Maricopa Community College District. ? Discuss how the project is going to be maintained and enhanced as an ongoing living educational system. ? Give idea and resources for other colleges to pursue Total OER.
