Acronyms can get confusing! Here are a few definitions to get you started:

ZTC - Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) refers to the cost of a course. It is used as a course designation and indicates that there is no textbook cost for the course. These courses might use library resources or other free resources that are not OER.

OER - Open Educational Resources (OER) refers to a work's license meaning they have open licenses. This means that the copyright owner retains few if any rights. You can use, reuse, adapt, and distribute however you would like so long as you follow the terms of the license.

• Textbook costs have risen at three times the rate of inflation since 1997. Even with tuition waived by programs like the California College Promise Grant, financial challenges remain the greatest obstacle to student completion.
• Textbook costs impact student behavior in college. The Florida Virtual Campus Textbook Study (2018) surveyed 21,000 students about how they were affected by textbook costs; their responses are summarized in the chart below.

YES! OER do much more than save students money; adoption supports student equity. The University of Georgia Study (2018) examined the impact of OER on student success metrics in courses taught by a professor who switched from a commercial textbook costing $100 or more to a free, open textbook (n=22,137). As indicated in the chart below, the greatest gains from using OER accrued to the students most likely to be underserved by traditional models (McKenzie, 2018).

Want to know more about OER Research? Check out The Review Project which “provides a summary of all known empirical research on the impacts of OER adoption.”

Our Goal

With a commitment to promoting equitable and successful outcomes for our students, particularly those from disproportionately impacted groups, the Moorpark College Strategic Plan includes a goal of increasing the number of ZTC designated courses from 8.6% (328 courses) in 2019 to 20% (769 courses) in 2023.

Where are we now?

We are making progress toward our goal, but we need more textbook heroes to join the Open Education revolution! Here's a breakdown of our ZTC courses by semester:

• Fall 2020: 234 ZTC courses
• Spring 2020: 172 ZTC courses
• Fall 2019: 104 ZTC courses
• Spring 2019: 135 ZTC courses

What's the impact?

In a recent comparison of MC student outcomes in courses taught by the same professor before and after adoption of a zero-cost textbook, our Institutional Research findings echoed those of other ZTC/OER programs:

• Course success rates increased by 1.3% for all students
• Course success rates increased by 2.3% for Hispanic students

The value of Open Education Resources lies in the Creative Commons License and the flexibility it provides to content adaptation. In the recording above, the types of licenses are explained as well as the permissions they give to users and content creators.

OER promote equity in multiple ways. Aside from removing cost barriers for students, OER allow faculty to customize their courses to reflect students' lives and provide multiple voices and perspectives on a given topic. This recording focuses on where to find diverse images that reflect our diverse students and on how to create attributions to credit the creators of their openly licensed work