Virginia Pilots Statewide Open Textbook Initiative for Community Colleges
Virginia Community Colleges is piloting a
new program to replace textbooks with open educational resources (OER) in
designated programs.
According to Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College
System (VCCS), textbook costs present a barrier for students, whereas
technology makes access to information "faster and less expensive without
compromising quality."
Tidewater Community College in Virginia
already operates an OER initiative, called the "Z-Degree" program. The Z stands
for "zero textbook cost," and the Z-Degree program is a business degree that
uses freely accessible, openly licensed educational materials. The college
launched the program in fall 2013, and, according to VCCS, it has been "immensely
successful."
VCCS plans to model its open textbook initiative on Tidewater's Z-Degree
program. The pilot program will run at 15 of Virginia's community colleges and
is expected to save 50,000 students more than $5 million dollars in the first
year.
"We may never be able to bring that [OER initiative] to every course of
study," said DuBois in a prepared statement. "We owe it to our students,
however, to bring that flexibility to every course that we can.”
VCCS did not announce which of its 15 community colleges or which programs
would take part in the pilot project, which is being funded by a $200,000 grant
from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The Virginia Community College System operates 23 colleges serving 405,000
students each year.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].