Fall 2023, Resolution Number 17.01
Whereas, California Education Code §78052[1] requires that districts “Develop degrees with consideration for sustainability after grant funding is exhausted, including how content is updated and presented,” and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) recognizes open educational resources as the preferred and most sustainable mechanism for eliminating course costs as stated in Resolution 03.05 F21 Zero Means Zero Textbook Cost[2];
Whereas, The Burden-Free Instructional Materials Task Force was convened to “provide recommendations and possible regulatory actions for system structural changes that will facilitate the creation of sustainable solutions that reduce instructional materials costs for students in the long term,” and Resolution Number 2023-18 of the California Community Colleges’ Board of Governors[3] established that “the Chancellor’s Office shall work, in partnership with statewide participatory governance partners, to study implementation of the Burden Free Instructional Materials Taskforce recommendations, prioritizing actions that aim to remove barriers that unduly limit students’ ability to access timely and affordable instructional materials, establish a robust and sustained OER support infrastructure, and strengthen data collection capacity to better support local innovations towards reducing instructional material costs”;
Whereas, The ASCCC encourages local academic senates to collaborate with other constituencies to integrate open educational resources into their colleges’ guiding resources, including institutional goals, educational master plans, equity plans, accreditation institutional self-evaluation reports, board policies, and administrative procedures or regulations, as stated in Resolution 13.01 S21 Institutionalizing Open Educational Resources[4]; and
Whereas, Although the ASCCC has urged “local academic senates to work with their administrations and other appropriate college constituencies to establish a faculty coordinator position that plays a leadership role with respect to the local implementation of the Zero Textbook Cost Program” and encouraged “local academic senates to work with their administrative colleagues to use a portion of the Zero Textbook Cost Program funds to support a faculty coordinator who leads the college’s open educational resources and Zero Textbook Cost Program efforts” as directed in Resolution 17.03 F22 Using Zero Textbook Cost Funds to Support an Open Educational Resource/Zero Textbook Costs Faculty Coordinator[5], some colleges expect their designated Open Educational Resources liaison to assume this role without additional compensation, and others are only providing stipends to faculty coordinators, which does not provide faculty with the necessary time to effectively oversee the zero-textbook-cost work and integrate it into the resources and structure of the college as is necessary for sustainability;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges recognize that sustaining and institutionalizing zero-textbook-cost pathways requires substantial and on-going work and coordination by faculty; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge local academic senates to advocate for the establishment of a local faculty coordinator position reassigned from their usual duties to lead their college’s zero-textbook-cost efforts.
[1] California Education Code §78052: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=78052.&lawCode=EDC
[2] https://www.asccc.org/resolutions/zero-means-zero-textbook-cost
[3] https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/cccchan/Board.nsf/files/CTUQG96934A5/$file/resolution-of-the-board-of-governors-instructional-material-affordability-final-a11y.pdf
[4] https://www.asccc.org/resolutions/institutionalizing-open-educational-resources
[5] https://www.asccc.org/resolutions/using-zero-textbook-cost-funds-support-open-educational-resourcezero-textbook-costs