Fall 2022; Resolution Number 7.09
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Colleges advocated to establish a course section data element that, at a minimum, differentiates between sections requiring the purchase of a textbook or other instructional materials including those requiring purchase of an access code and all instances when a printed resource is required and not provided, those sections that are zero textbook cost (ZTC) due to the use of no-cost open educational resources, those that are ZTC but the resources have a cost that is not passed on to students, those that use no textbook, and those that are low-cost as defined locally (Resolution S21 11.02)[1];
Whereas, XB12, Instructional-Material-Cost section level data element, was added to the California Community Colleges Management Information System Data Element Dictionary[2] for implementation in summer 2022;
Whereas, While the XB12 Instructional-Material-Cost data element, as introduced, is aligned with the intent of Resolution S21 11.02,[3] components of it are open to interpretation and important distinctions have not been made, including code A (section has no associated instructional material), which is intended for those sections that have no required instructional materials, code B (section uses only no-cost open educational resources), which inappropriately presumes that the only no-cost resources are open educational resources and that all open educational resources are no cost, and code D (section has low instructional material costs as defined locally), which presumes that there is a common understanding of what it means to establish a low-cost definition locally; and
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourages colleges to implement a mechanism for identifying course sections that employ low-cost course materials because efforts to substantially decrease the costs of course materials should be recognized (Resolution F17 13.01[4]), and recognizing the need for an alternative to the legislated zero-cost designation (California Education Code §66406.9[5]) some colleges and districts have implemented a low-cost designation with low-cost being defined as below a locally specified dollar amount;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges request that the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office clarify that XB12 code A is to be used when a course section has no required instructional materials;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to modify the XB12 data element codes to differentiate between those sections that use no-cost open educational resources and those that use other no-cost resources; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to clarify that “low instructional materials costs as defined locally” refers to a locally established cost threshold that must not be exceeded.
[1] Resolution S21 11.02 Advocate for Development of a ZTC Data Element: https://asccc.org/resolutions/advocate-development-ztc-data-element.
[2] California Community Colleges Management Information System Data Element Dictionary can be found at https://webdata.cccco.edu/ded/xb/xb12.pdf.
[3] Resolution S21 11.02 Advocate for Development of a ZTC Data Element: https://asccc.org/resolutions/advocate-development-ztc-data-element.
[4] Resolution F17 13.01 Recognition of Course Sections with Low-Cost Course Material Options: https://asccc.org/resolutions/advocate-development-ztc-data-element.
[5] California Education Code §66406.9: https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/education-code/edc-sect-66406-9.html.