September 2023 Newsletter

Greetings! I hope your Fall 2023 term is off to a great start! As the Open Educational Resources Liaison for our college, it is my responsibility to share communications from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI). Please read on to learn about upcoming events and opportunities that are open to all.

If you have questions or comments about OER or ZTC, please contact me at josue.franco@gcccd.edu or call/text 619-780-5674.

Creative Commons Training

The licenses that are used to identify resources as “open” are provided by Creative Commons, a nonprofit that also offers training on the appropriate use of the licenses. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Open Educational Resources Initiative is pleased to announce that the Michelson 20 Million Minds Foundation is sponsoring a Creative Commons (CC) Certificate Bootcamp for the California Community Colleges from December 11 - 15, 2023 at San Bernardino Valley College. The 20 Million Minds Foundation will cover tuition for the program. The application deadline is 11:00 pm, Monday, September 25.

The CC Certificate program is a professional development opportunity that provides an in-depth study of Creative Commons licenses—helping you become an expert in open licensing and the global, shared knowledge commons. In addition to earning a certificate, those who are selected will also have the opportunity to participate in a supportive cohort of colleges with optional follow-up events, regional collaboration, and potentially sharing the experience at related area conferences. Applicants with established OER or ZTC roles and a clear vision for how they will maximize their Creative Commons knowledge will be given priority in the selection process. The selection committee will also strive to ensure the diversity of participants, including discipline and institutional diversity. Access the Creative Commons Certificate: CCC December 2023 Bootcamp Application.

ZTC Acceleration Grants and ZTC Degree Program Information

If you’re looking to learn more about the ZTC Acceleration Grants, please consider attending a California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) ZTC Acceleration Grant Info Session from 12:00 – 1:00 pm on Tuesday through September 12 (link provided below).

Access a PDF of the ZTC Acceleration Grant application for more information. The following is provided in NOVA under the heading “Guidance”:

Each college has already received a $20,000 planning grant and a $180,000 implementation grant, for a total of $200,000 per college. Now, through the non-competitive process outlined below, colleges are eligible to receive additional funding by submitting the ZTC acceleration grant program plan for up to $200,000 (per program) to develop and implement additional ZTC associate degrees or career technical education certificates. Prioritization is to be given to existing associate degrees for transfer.

California Community Colleges are invited to submit program plans to request funding to develop and implement one or more ZTC program pathways. All courses for a program pathway must provide instructional materials at no cost to students. The ZTC program pathway(s) must be developed and implemented by Fall 2026. Implementing a pathway means that all courses in the program pathway have at least one section that is available to students in the college’s schedule of classes that have zero textbook costs.

For questions regarding the ZTC Acceleration Grant Program or Program Plan Submission, please contact ztctap@canyons.edu. For questions regarding payment, reporting processes, or any other NOVA related questions, please contact ztc@cccco.edu.

ZTC Acceleration Grants Zoom Link – Tuesdays, 12:00 1:00 pm though September 12 (https://canyonsonline.zoom.us/j/83575289954)

Additional ZTC information can be obtained by attending the ZTC Office Monthly Office Hours hosted by the CCCCO and subscribing to the ZTC listserv by sending a request to the CCCCO’s ZTC email (ztc@cccco.edu). The ZTC Monthly Office Hours are held on the last Friday of the month from 9:00 am - 10:00 am.

The OERI has been archiving the messages sent out on the ZTC listserv, as well as other ZTC-relevant messages and information. Access the OER and ZTC page to find all the latest information about ZTC degrees and related textbook affordability requirements.

New OER

All the OERI products from its 4^th funding cycle are in the final stages of review and revision. All OERI-funded resources may be found on the OERI’s website.

Below are the most recently completed resources. Please be sure to share them with interested colleagues. In addition, we will be highlighting new resources for specific disciplines each month. In September, we are focusing on psychology.

Textbooks

Introduction to Arabic (Hana Kassas, Dr. Layla Bahar Al-Aloom, Sameera Murtada, Maysaa Toma, and Roula Aoneh, CC BY) is a textbook equivalent to support Introduction to Arabic. It includes interactive activities.

New Directions in Chicanx and Latinx Studies (Amber Rose González, Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza-Kulick, Melissa Moreno, Lucha Arévalo, and Eddy Francisco Alvarez Jr.; CC BY-NC-SA) is a comprehensive, peer-reviewed introductory textbook written by scholars from the California Community Colleges and California State University. The content, spanning ten chapters, is guided by intersectional, transnational, and relational frameworks that build on current and emergent work in Chicanx and Latinx Studies.

Introduction to Ethnic Studies (Kay Fischer, Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza-Kulick, Ulysses Acevedo, Teresa Hodges, Melissa Leal, and Tamara Cheshire; CC BY-NC) is ideal for an Introduction to Ethnic Studies course. This textbook examines the development of Ethnic Studies as an academic discipline and provides relevant education centering narratives, philosophies, histories, and cultures of Black Indigenous People of Color, while countering eurocentrism and white supremacy. The content includes a comparative approach covering Africana/African American/Black Studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies, Chicanx/Latinx Studies, and American Indian/Native American Studies.

World Geographies: A Critical Introduction (Aline Gregorio, Nazanin Naraghi, Waverly Ray, Jason Scott, Kristin Sellers, and Andrew Wallace, CC BY-NC-SA) was designed to serve as a foundational resource for students taking World Regional Geography courses. This book uses ASCCC’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism framework and a critical geography lens and utilizes a thematic approach to world regional geography. This focus enables readers to understand processes driving global inequities and develop a better understanding of contemporary global issues.

Ancillaries

Instructor Guide: Tarea Libre I (Cristina Moon, Alejandro Lee, Sarah Harmon and Nancy Meléndez-Ballesteros; CC BY)
The Tarea Libre project is a comprehensive and accessible Open Educational Resources question bank of 1,400 interactive activities created in LibreStudio and ADAPT for first-year Spanish courses for California Community Colleges. The content can be used via ADAPT or linked to a campus Learning Management System via LTI. This LTI integration seamlessly connects the assigned activities to the grade book streamlining the assigning and grading of homework. Learn more about the project at the archive of the May 5, 2023 webinar “What’s new in Spanish OER: Tarea Libre.”

MyOpenMath Assignments (Larry Green, Jessica Kuang, Cindy Moss, Scott Hubbard, and Saburo Matsumoto; CC BY)

Materials for Ordinary Differential Equations (C-ID MATH 240) Course ID: 140262

Materials for Introduction to Linear Algebra (C-ID MATH 250) Course ID: 140263
Learn more about MyOpenMath at the following archived webinars:

September Discipline Highlight – Psychology

Biological Psychology

Last year, the OERI shared the most recent draft of Biopsychology. While the book needs further refinement due to some “unevenness” in the length of its chapters, several of the authors began to use it and others took the time to further modify it for their use. Faculty who teach a biological psychology course are invited to consider the following customized version of the text:

§ Psyc 310: Biological Psychology (Keys) (tinyurl.com/Psyc310TextKeys) (Sacramento City College)

Abnormal Psychology

In July 2023 a new edition of the Bridley and Daffin text, Fundamentals of Psychological Disorders (CC BY-NC-SA) was introduced. Faculty who are seeking ancillaries in support of this text might be interested in NOBA Project Ancillary Materials for Abnormal Psychology (Dose, Ibrahim, Means, and Callahan, 2022) (CC BY-NC-SA)

Psychological Statistics

Faculty looking for a statistics text may want to consider Answering Questions with Data: Introductory Statistics for Psychology Students (Crump, Navarro, and Suzuk, 2018) (CC BY-SA). Although not new, this resource provides elements that other resources are lacking. The authors’ reason for writing it may generate some interest:

This is a mildly opinionated, non-traditional introduction to statistics. It acknowledges some of the major ideas from traditional frequentist approaches, and some Bayesian approaches. Much of the conceptual foundation is rooted in simulations that can be conducted in R. We use some formulas, but mostly explain things without formulas. The textbook was written with math-phobia in mind, and attempts to reduce the phobia associated with arithmetic computations. There are many things missing that should probably be added. We will do our best to add necessary things as we update the textbook.

OERI Events – September OERI Friday Forums

The OERI Friday Forums will be held from 10:30 am – 11:30 am on the 1^st and 3^rd Fridays of the month, provided there are no scheduling conflicts (e.g., a holiday). Due to Labor Day, September’s OERI Friday Forums will be on the 2^nd and 3^rd Fridays. All Friday Forum webinars are archived. The ASCCC OERI will provide automated captioning for all webinars. If you would like to request live human closed-captioning for any of our offerings, please contact us by e-mail at least 10 business days in advance.

OERI Friday Forums are intended for a diverse audience. Please share with your colleagues. We hope you all will join us!

Friday, September 8, 10:30 am - 11:30 am

The Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Program – An Overview and Update

In July, the Chancellor’s Office shared its intent to make “Acceleration Grants” available to the colleges. An overview of the program plan will be provided to discuss the information required for submission as well as the basic criteria to be used for application awards. Although the stated due date to submit applications for this non-competitive funding opportunity is September 15, colleges can request an extension to November 15 in NOVA. During the webinar, an overview of the ZTC Program will be provided, and a representative from the Chancellor’s Office will give an update on the current funding phases and answer your questions.

Friday, September 15, 10:30 am – 11:30 am
The Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Program – Sustainability, Updating Content, and Duplication

California Education Code 78052 allocated to the California Community Colleges $115 million to “develop and implement zero-textbook-cost degrees and develop open educational resources.” It also introduced the further requirements including that districts “[d]evelop degrees with consideration for sustainability after grant funding is exhausted, including how content is updated and presented,” and that “[t]he chancellor’s office shall ensure that a grant does not result in the development or implementation of duplicate degrees for a subject matter to avoid duplication of effort and ensure the development and implementation of the greatest number of degrees for the benefit of the greatest number of students.” In practical terms, what does this mean for your local ZTC efforts? Join us for a lively conversation about avoiding duplication and ensuring currency and sustainability in our ZTC Program efforts.

IDEA and H5P Webinars

The OERI is pleased to share that its IDEA Framework Lead, Tiffany Lanoix, and its H5P Lead (and Spanish Discipline Lead), Cristina Moon, are providing the following professional development opportunities during the month of September. We look forward to hosting an array of Discipline Lead events in October. If you have an idea for a webinar you would like to see, please let the OERI know (oeri@asccc.org).

Integrating ADAPT in Canvas

Friday, September 8, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

ADAPT provides a mechanism for linking openly licensed activities to the Canvas gradebook. In this webinar, we will build auto-graded activities in ADAPT as summative assessments that can be integrated into Canvas and create fill-in the blank, multiple choice, true or false, select choice, and matching ADAPT native questions. We will also demonstrate how to add newly developed questions to an ADAPT assignment and how to use ADAPT in LibreTexts and, if locally available, within Canvas. Additional details regarding ADAPT integration into Canvas will be provided prior to the workshop.

Note: To participate, attendees will need to create both an ADAPT and a LibreStudio account.

How do you access ADAPT?

Login: https://adapt.libretexts.org/login
To create account, go to Contact us, Request Instructor access code

How do you access LibreStudio?

Go to LibreStudio [https://studio.libretexts.org/ ]
Then click on the register link [https://studio.libretexts.org/user/register] to set up an account and use ASCCC for access code.

H5P/LibreStudio and ADAPT Office Hours

Friday, September 15, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Join us in office hours to address specific H5P/LibreStudio and ADAPT issues. Access H5P Part I – Introduction to H5P and LibreTexts Studio and H5P Part II – Introduction to ADAPT to learn more about these tools.

Anti-Racism in Action: Applying the IDEA Framework to OER
Friday, September 22, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Using Open Educational Resources (OER) is an important element of student equity efforts. Join us for a hands-on training to learn how you can use the ASCCC’s Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) Framework to ensure your course materials reflect anti-racist and culturally relevant pedagogy. In this training you will learn what the IDEA Framework is and how to use it as an assessment tool for your OER. Remember, equity is a journey and not a destination. Let’s keep going!