Open Educational Resources

Lake Tahoe Community College is excited to be part of the Open Educational Resources initiative, working to adopt free or reasonably priced textbooks and other course materials. LTCC's faculty is working to look at OER options so students have easier access to an affordable education. Many of the courses offered at LTCC come with quality textbooks and learning materials that are free to access online and low cost to purchase as a paper copy. LTCC was granted an award to fund the research that will help with the adoption of OER materials. This funding comes from AB 798, the California congressional bill that supports OER.

Instructors are working hard to identify OER materials that are of equal or higher quality compared to the more expensive materials sold by regular publishers. Typically, an instructor will put together a package of OER course materials that are accessible online for free or at a greatly reduced price. Students who want a paper version will be able to purchase the materials through eCampus at a cost that is much less than traditional course materials. LTCC's library also has copies that students can check out and use in the library, or for the entire quarter. OER materials could potentially save students thousands of dollars during their academic career at LTCC.
There are several websites that host OER materials. Your instructor will include information on the website to go to and will assist you in finding navigating to the site. Some such sites are:
 
  • Cool4Ed: California Open Online Library for Education, a great resource for information about OER and how it is being implemented in California.  
  • MERLOT.org: A peer reviewed collection of OER materials from all subjects.
  • Open Stax: A collection of OER textbooks.
  • OER Commons: A collection of OER materials searchable by subject
  • OpenOregon: Courses in Oregon that have adopted OER materials
  • OpenUMB: A nice search tool for finding resource
  • Listserve Conversations: A collection of the successful conversations on finding OER materials by discipline.
  • Barnes & Noble Courseware: Discounted online courseware
 
ASL 101:  American Sign Language 1:  Textbook and Video Collection
ASL 102:  American Sign Language 2:
ASL 106:  Fingerspelling:  Fingerspelling - A Mindful Approach
ASL 108:  American Deaf Culture 1:
ASL 201:  American Sign Language 4:  
BIO 101:  Principles of Biology 1: Biology
BIO 102:  Principles of Biology 2: Biology
BIO 103:  Principles of Biology 3: Biology
BIO 110:  Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology: Concepts of Biology
BIO 111:  Introduction to Plant and Animal Biology: Concepts of Biology
BIO 120:  Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology: Anatomy and Physiology
BIO 121:  Musculoskeletal Anatomy: Anatomy and Physiology
BIO 142:  EMT/Firefighter Anatomy and Physiology: Anatomy and Physiology
BIO 149:  Ecology
BIO 201:  Botany
BIO 203: Human Anatomy and Physiology 1:
BIO 204: Human Anatomy and Physiology 2:  
BIO 205: Human Anatomy and Physiology 3: 
BIO 210: Microbiology: Boundless Microbiology
BIO 212: Zoology
BSN 101A:  Business Law:  Introduction to Law and Business Transactions:  Business Law I Essentials
BSN 102:  Business Information Processing Systems
BSN 120:  Human Resource Management:  Human Resource Management
BSN 210:  Entrepreneurship
CCJ 101:  Introduction to Criminal Justice:  American Criminal Justice System
CHM 101-103:  General Chemistry:  Atoms First
CHM 100,116,117:  Introductory Chemistry:  LibreText's ChemWiki
CIS 120 A,B,C:  Computer Programming
CRJ 102:  Criminal Law:  Criminal Law by Storm
CRJ 103:  Introduction to Evidence:  Criminal Procedure by Storm
CRJ 104:  Criminal Court Process:  Criminal Procedure by Storm
ECE 110:  Introduction to Curriculum:  Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs, Third edition by Carol Copple and Sue Bredekemp + Other articles
ECO 101:  Principles of Macroeconomics:  Principles of Macroeconomics
ECO 102:  Principles of Microeconomics:  Principles of Microeconomics
ENG 101:  Reading and Composition: Muhm's List
ENG 103:  Critical Reasoning, Writing the Research Paper:  Methods of Discovery
EVS 101:  Environmental Science:  Environmental Biology
EVS 101L:  Environmental Science Lab: Full Lab Manual and Environmental Biology
EVS 102:  Environmental Science:  System Dynamics:  AP Environmental Science 
EVS 103:  Environmental Science:  Human Impacts: AP Environmental Science 
GEG 102:  Human Geography:  Introduction to Human Geography
GEG 103:  World Regional Geography:  World Regional Geography:  People, Places and Globalization
GEG 108:  Water Resources: Concise Hydrology, Water Resource Management
GEL 101:  California Geology: An Introduction to Geology
GEL 102:  Physical Geology: An Introduction to Geology
GEL 103:  History of Earth and Its Life: An Introduction to Geology
GEL 110:  Geology of National Parks and Monuments:  An Introduction to Geology and  Owner's Guide to Historical National Parks
GEL 114:  Introduction to Earth Science: Dynamic Earth:  Introduction to Physical Geography
HIS 111:  History of the United States from the Colonial Period through the 18th Century:  US History
HIS 127A:  History of World Civilization to 1000:  World History:  Cultures States and Societies to 1500
JPN 101-103:  Elementary Japanese:  Grammar Video for Genki
JPN 141-143:  Elementary Japanese:  Grammar Video for Genki
JPN 201-203:  Intermediate Japanese: Genki
MAT 187:  Basic Arithmetic:  Pre-Algebra
MAT 152A:  Beginning Algebra Part 1:  Elementary Algebra
MAT 152B:  Beginning Algebra Part 2:  Elementary Algebra
MAT 154A:  Intermediate Algebra:  Intermediate Algebra
MAT 103A:  College Algebra Part 1:  Algebra and Trigonometry
MAT 103B:  College Algebra Part 2:  Algebra and Trigonometry
MAT 104:  Trigonometry:  Algebra and Trigonometry
MAT 105:  Calculus Part 1:  Calculus Volume 1
MAT 106:  Calculus Part 2:  Calculus Volume 1 and Calculus Volume 2
MAT 107:  Calculus Part 3:  Calculus Volume 2 and Calculus Volume 3
MAT 201:  Elementary Statistics: Introductory Statistics
MAT 202:  Calculus Part 3:  Calculus Volume 3
MAT 203:  Linear Algebra: Linear Algebra
MAT 204:  Differential Equations:  Elementary Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems
MUSIC 104B:  History of Rock Music
MUSIC 101:  Music Listening and Appreciation
MUSIC 104C:  World Music
MUSIC 104E:  The Beatles
PHS 117:  Oceanography: Introduction to Physical Oceanography
PHY 104-105-106:  General Physics: College Physics
PHY 107-108-207-208:  General Physics (Calculus):  University Physics 1, University Physics 2, University Physics 3
PSY 101:  General Psychology: Psychology
PSY 104:  Social Psychology:  Social Psychology
POL 101:  Introduction to American Government and Politics:  American Government
PSY/ECE 102:  Child and Adolescent Growth
PSY 107:  Personality Psychology: Personality Theory in a Cultural Context
PSY 109:  Lifespan Development
PSY 211:  Research Methods and Design:  Research Methods in Psychology
SOC 101:  Introduction to Sociology:  Introduction to Sociology 2eSPA 101,102:  Elementary Spanish:  Spanish 101 Spanish 102
SPA 131:  ISSI Intermediate Grammar In Depth:  COERLL Materials and Spanish Grammar in Context
SPA 221A:  Spanish for Heritage and Bilingual Speakers: SPA 114 Spanish for Heritage Speakers 2 
SPE 101:  Public Speaking:  The Public Speaking Project
THE 101:  Introduction to Theater:  Theatrical Worlds
THE 105A:  Introduction to Acting
 
AB 798 is the Textbook Affordability Program. It's goal is to save college students money by empowering professors and local campuses to adopt high-quality, free and open educational resources for course materials. Assemblywoman Bonilla (sponsor of AB 798) recognized that free and open educational resources can reduce the total cost of education for students and their families in California's higher education institutions. LTCC's AB 798 proposal will enable the promise of a more affordable education to its students to become a reality.
 
Funds from AB 798 are to be used for professional development so that faculty and staff learn about open educational resources and how they will make college more affordable for students. Funds cannot be used for the following:
 
  • Direct compensation for faculty members who adopt open educational resources, except as provided to compensate for professional development.  
  • The development of MOOC's or online courses that include non-matriculated students.
  • The creation of new OER materials.
  • The purchase of new equipment.
  • Past curricular conversions to OER materials
LTCC was awarded a grant to create a pathway for math majors, allowing them to take all of their required courses and receive their AA degree or certificate without buying a single textbook. The main effort was to move from the expensive textbooks and online homework systems that are required in Elementary Algebra through Differential Equations to a free version that is of as high or higher quality compared to the expensive versions. We had a team of 17 mathematics faculty from throughout California working on developing the online homework system for this project. Math faculty at LTCC were also busily planning for the move to OER materials. At this point in time, every math course offered at LTCC is a zero textbook cost course. In addition to the math courses, we created multiple pathways through the general education requirements that students can take without paying a dime for textbooks or ancillary materials.  

ZTC degree pathways are available in the following areas:

  • Mathematics
  • Psychology
  • Business Administration

The California senate bill SB 1359 that recently passed requires all California Community Colleges to label all "Zero Cost" textbook courses in the schedule of classes.  Other than tuition, fees for the following course materials are not allow to be required for these zero cost designated courses:

  • Textbooks
  • Online homework systems
  • Workbooks
  • Required supplementary readings

The following costs do not disqualify a course from being counted as a Zero Cost textbook course:

  • Materials such as art supplies
  • Food for a culinary course
  • Fingerprinting for a child development course
  • Calculators and other electronic devices
  • Sporting equipment
  • Equipment for a fire academy course
  • Special clothing
  


If you have any questions about whether your course counts as a Zero Cost Textbook Course, please contact Larry Green, the Open Educational Resources director.

 
Questions about Open Educational Resources?  Email Larry Green at drLarryGreen@gmail.com