ASCCC OER-Related Resolutions

Establish Local Open Educational Resources Liaisons
Fall 2018; Resolution Number: 17.02

Whereas, The ASCCC will be initiating a five-year open educational resources (OER) initiative in spring 2019 that will provide OER-related support and resources to the colleges and gather data from the colleges related to OER use and challenges;

Whereas, Research has shown that access to and use of textbooks and ancillary materials are correlated with successful course completion by students, and students postpone or fail to purchase textbooks due to escalating textbook prices and other educational costs, which could impact their success and course completion;

Whereas, Various college-level OER funding opportunities have required the establishment of a local point-person to coordinate such efforts, and the ASCCC has urged local senates to be involved in the process for appointing individuals to such positions (Resolution 19.10 S16); and 

Whereas, The OER initiative plan developed by the ASCCC proposes to further OER use by providing centralized support for local OER efforts, and that support must be informed by local needs and effectively disseminated at the colleges;

Resolved, That the ASCCC urge local academic senates to identify a local OER point-person to act as a liaison to facilitate OER-related communication between the college and the ASCCC

Support Use of Sabbaticals and Other Professional Development for Open Educational Resources Development
Spring 2017; Resolution Number: 12.02

Whereas, Curriculum, including the selection and development of instructional materials, is an area of faculty primacy under Title 5 §53200 and the development of open educational resources (OER) is a worthwhile curriculum-related endeavor that will benefit students;

Whereas, Assembly Bill 798 (Bonilla, 2015) encourages the use of OER, and zero-textbook-cost degree efforts are underway that seek to provide an opportunity for students to earn a degree with no expenses associated with instructional materials;

Whereas, Access to and use of textbooks and ancillary materials can facilitate successful course completion by students, and students may postpone or fail to purchase textbooks due to escalating textbook prices and other educational costs, which could impact their success and course completion; and

Whereas, According to the senate paper Sabbaticals: Benefitting Faculty, the Institution, and　Students Links to an external site. (2007) major purpose of sabbaticals “…is to provide opportunity for continued professional growth and new, or renewed, intellectual achievement through study, research, writing, and travel;”

Resolved, That the ASCCC encourage local senates and bargaining units to work with their administration to allow the use of sabbaticals and other professional development opportunities for the development of accessible open educational resources.

Support for Faculty Open Educational Resources Coordinators
Spring 2016; Resolution Number: 19.01

Whereas, The College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015 (AB 798, Bonilla, 2015), provides incentives to colleges that seek to reduce textbook costs by adopting Open Educational Resources (OER) in a minimum of 10 course sections;

Whereas, The intersegmental California Open Educational Resources Council (COERC) created a Request for Proposals (RFP) that included the specific requirement that colleges include in the RFP the “Identification, roles, and responsibilities of your Textbook Affordability Campus Coordinator who will coordinate your textbook affordability program, including ensuring the programs are implemented in a timely and effective manner and providing reports and evaluations on the campus’s program outcomes”; and

Whereas, The evaluation of program outcomes regarding curricular decisions, including the adoption of textbooks, is an academic and professional matter;

Resolved, That the ASCCC urge local senates that intend to apply to participate in the Textbook Affordability Act ensure that the process for the selection of the Textbook Affordability Campus Coordinator involves collegial consultation with the local academic senate

Opposition to Compensation for Adoption of Open Educational Resources
Fall 2015; Resolution Number: 13.03

Whereas, The development of curriculum, which includes the choice of textbooks and other course materials, is an area of faculty primacy under Title 5 §53200 and a responsibility of every community college faculty member;

Whereas, Assembly Bill 798 (Bonilla, 2015) encourages the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and was supported by the ASCCC in its form as of April 6, 2015 but has since been amended to allow for direct compensation of faculty who choose to adopt open educational resources in the form of reassigned time from instructional duties; 

Whereas, Evaluation and approval of grant applications under AB 798 (Bonilla, 2015) is granted to the California Open Educational Resources Council, which includes representatives from the California State University and University of California systems who may differ in their perspectives regarding the proper use of the AB 798 grant funds; and

Whereas, The practice of incentivizing faculty to adopt any specific instructional materials over others could potentially compromise academic quality by encouraging or pressuring faculty to adopt materials that are less pedagogically sound;

Resolved, That the ASCCC inform the California Open Educational Resources Council of its objection to direct compensation to individual faculty members for adoption of open educational resources; 

Resolved, That the ASCCC direct the community college faculty appointees to the California Open Educational Resources Council to oppose approval of any grant application that allows direct compensation to individual faculty members for adoption of open educational resources; and

Resolved, That the ASCCC encourage local academic senates not to approve any grant submissions for AB 798 funding that include direct compensation to individual faculty members for adoption of open educational resources.

Update the Paper Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values
Spring 2015; Resolution Number: 16.01

Whereas, Resolution 11.01 F12 Pursue Statewide Open Educational Resources for Student Success[1] Links to an external site. supported ASCCC participation in “the convening of appropriate stakeholders, including faculty from our intersegmental partners for implementation of SB 1052 and 1053 (Steinberg, 2012), to develop appropriate rules and guidelines for accessing Open Educational Resources materials for faculty in a broad range of formats that encourage their wide-spread availability for adoption and use”;

Whereas, The California Digital Open Source Library (CDOSL) is being designed so faculty can easily find, adopt, utilize, and modify OER course materials for little or no cost, and the California Open Online Library for Education[2] Links to an external site. is the first library service of the CDOSL;

Whereas, The ASCCC has two papers on affordable options for textbooks, Textbook Pricing Policies and Student Access (1997) and Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values (2005), which do not reflect the current technological options or the work that has been done by the California Open Education Resources Council in response to SB 1052 and 1053 (Steinberg, 2012); and

Whereas, While the availability of open education resources through the California Digital Open Source Library (CDOSL) provides faculty with additional textbook options for their classes, the review and consideration of course textbooks is both a faculty professional duty and a matter of academic freedom that is crucial for ensuring the appropriate levels of academic rigor for their courses;

Resolved, That the ASCCC update the paper Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values (2005) to include current technological options and the work that has been done by the California Open Education Resources Council and bring it to the body for approval at the Spring 2016 Plenary Session; and

Resolved, That the ASCCC urge remind faculty of the availability of open educational resources, and that as part of their textbook evaluation processes, suggest the review and consideration to review and consider the adoption of appropriate open educational resources textbooks while adhering to the highest professional standards and ensuring appropriate levels of academic rigor for their courses.

Support College Textbook Affordability Act
Spring 2015; Resolution Number: 06.05

Whereas, High textbook prices are an increasingly significant barrier to student success, as many students cannot afford and thus do not purchase necessary course materials without which their performance in the corresponding courses is impeded;

Whereas, Open Educational Resources, when reviewed and selected by discipline faculty for their own courses, can in many cases offer appropriate low-cost alternatives to published textbooks for students;

Whereas, AB 798 (Bonilla, as of April 6, 2015), the College Textbook Affordability Act, would provide resources for colleges to promote the consideration of Open Educational Resources by faculty but makes provision for local academic senate approval of any program established through these funds and allows colleges to set their own benchmarks to account for the use of the funds; and

Whereas, Assembly Member Bonilla and her staff have consulted directly with the ASCCC in developing AB 798 and have committed to further consultation necessary regarding any amendments to the bill;

Resolved, That the ASCCC endorse the intent of AB 798 (Bonilla, as of April 6, 2015) to promote the consideration of appropriate open educational resources through funding that is dependent on the agreement of local academic senates.

Recognition of Course Sections with Low-Cost Course Material Options
Fall 2017; Resolution Number: 13.01

Whereas, The significant rise in costs of textbooks is a barrier to college attendance, student access, and student success, and many colleges are interested in reducing the cost of textbooks to increase student access to necessary course materials;

Whereas, The intent of the College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015 (AB 798, Bonilla, 2015) is to reduce costs for college students by encouraging faculty to accelerate the adoption of lower cost, high-quality, open educational resources (OER), and the Zero-Textbook-Cost Degree Grant Program focuses on the development of degrees with no associated text costs;

Whereas, Senate Bill 1359 (Block, 2016) requires all segments of public higher education in California to “Clearly highlight, by means that may include a symbol or logo in a conspicuous place on the online campus course schedule, the courses that exclusively use digital course materials that are free of charge to students and may have a low-cost option for print versions” (CEC 66406.9.) as of January, 2018; and

Whereas, Efforts to substantially decrease the costs of course materials should be recognized and, in some instances, reducing costs to zero may not be immediately possible;

Resolved, That the ASCCC support efforts to increase student access to high-quality open educational resources and reduce the cost of course materials and supplies for students in course sections for which open educational resources may not be available to accomplish zero cost for students; and

Resolved, That the ASCCC encourage colleges to implement a mechanism for identifying course sections that employ low-cost course materials.