Case Studies

Implementing an Administration of Justice OER/ZTC Degree

The OER/ZTC Degree Project at Taft College targeted the Administration of Justice Associate of Science Transfer Degree. This degree program has been offered since 2014 and is a highly sought-after degree program that provides students with the ability to work in the criminal justice field and/or transfer to a four-year university to obtain a bachelor’s degree. This program also provides continuing education for existing [..]

CCCOER on October 9, 2019

OER Degree Fosters Faculty Collaboration and Student Choices

Housatonic Community College (HCC) chose the Associate of Science (AS) General Studies Degree for their Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative (OER-DI) because it is the degree awarded to the largest number of students each year. Also, HCC students who have undeclared majors are filtered into General Studies. The requirements of the degree includes a broad range of courses from each department, which gave [..]

CCCOER on January 10, 2019

OER Degree Links Completion, Equity, and Faculty Engagement

Overview Lake Washington Institute of Technology (LWTech) received funding from Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative in 2016 making it possible to offer an Associate Degree in Biology where all courses in the pathway use open educational resources (OER) instead of commercial textbooks.  The degree is a Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA), Major-Related Program (MRP) which guarantees that students completing the DTA/MRP will receive 90 [..]

CCCOER on December 5, 2018

Libraries Lead Transformative OER Degree Initiative

Overview: City University of New York’s (CUNY) Office of Library Services (OLS) leads the effort at three community colleges to transform associates degree programs through Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) OER Degree Initiative. All the courses in the degree pathways have been redesigned to replace traditional commercial textbooks with open educational resources. Borough of Manhattan Community College has created a degree in criminal justice, Hostos [..]

CCCOER on October 3, 2018

Faculty Team Drives Home OER and ZTC Degree Pathways

Overview OER use at Santa Ana College (SAC) began in 2011 with the Kaleidoscope Project through the Gates Next Generation grant. With strong support from faculty, OER adoption amongst the college grew substantially. In 2016, SAC was awarded funding through Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) OER Degree initiative which has made it possible to offer two OER degree pathways: Associate in Science in Business Administration [..]

CCCOER on August 1, 2018

A Design Team Approach to Online OER Degree Pathways

Overview In 2016, Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) proposed a fully online Associate of Arts (AA) in General Studies through Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Pathways Initiative. FSCJ’s focus is the working adult who struggles with the costs of higher education, First Time in College (FTIC) and low-income students.   Authors: Dr. Peter J. Shapiro: Director, Creative Learning Services, FSCJ Online and Workforce [..]

Una Daly on June 19, 2018

Incentivizing Faculty Leads to over $11 Million in Savings

The Maricopa Millions Project was started in 2013 with funds from Maricopa County Community College District, with the goal of raising awareness and promoting adoptions of OER by incentivizing faculty to develop, revise, remix, and adopt OER. In order reach as many students as possible, Maricopa Millions focused on creating content for courses with the highest enrollments.  This developed content has been publicly shared [..]

CCCOER on May 23, 2018

Building a Z-Degree Foundation: Business Administration & Multi-Disciplinary Studies

Houston Community College (HCC) is offering two Z-degree plans, an AA in Business Administration and an AA and AS in Multi-Disciplinary Studies (this is the Gen Ed transfer degree plan). Both degree plans are available online and at two of their campuses. Starting Fall 2018, HCC is rolling out a Z-Core (OER Core Curriculum offerings) at two additional campuses. One of the things HCC [..]

CCCOER on May 8, 2018

A Winning Combination: Education OER Degree & Psychology ZTC Degree

West Hills College Lemoore (WHCL) was awarded an OER Degree grant by Achieving the Dream in 2016 to develop an Associate of Arts Transfer (AA-T) degree in Elementary Teacher Education. One year into the ATD grant, WHCL was awarded a a California Chancellor’s Office Zero-Textbook-Cost (ZTC) Degree grant which it has used to develop an Associate of Arts Transfer (AA-T) degree in psychology and [..]

Una Daly on April 25, 2018

Multi-institutional OER Degree Collaboration

Overview Austin Community College (ACC) is the lead for the Texas consortium of four colleges awarded an Achieving the Dream OER Degree Initiative grant in June 2016.  The four colleges are jointly developing two degrees: an Associate of Arts and Associate of Science in General Studies. Findings from the Spring 2017 term indicate that Austin Community College students enrolled in courses using OER are [..]

Una Daly on March 13, 2018

Fully Online Liberal Arts OER Degree

Overview    Pima Community College (PCC) has nearly finished completing an OER pathway of 21 courses totaling 64 credits for a fully online Associate of Arts (AA) Liberal Arts Degree through Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative.  Although the most popular degree at PCC, the AA Liberal Arts has never been marketed as a fully online degree until now. The OER pathway leading to the [..]

Una Daly on March 10, 2018

Pathways to Success with OER Degrees

Overview Bay College was awarded the OER Degree grant from Achieving the Dream (ATD) in June of 2016 but prior to receiving it, they had already implemented a process to transition courses to OER and to create OER courses. These early projects helped the college to prepare for applying for the grant since it provided valuable experience working with OER.  Bay College has saved [..]

Una Daly on August 31, 2017

Designing Culturally Relevant OER for Liberal Arts

  Overview Since its inception in 2016, Bunker Hill Community College’s Open Educational Resources (OER) Degree Initiative has enabled the college to enhance its student success agenda by designing and integrating OER into the Liberal Arts Program of Study, in which more than 4,000 students are enrolled. To date 19 faculty have been trained to develop and use OER; 18 sections were offered in [..]

Una Daly on August 25, 2017

General Studies OER Degree Provides a Foundation

Montgomery College is developing a General Studies AA degree options using open educational resources (OER) so that students can complete their degree without paying for course materials. The initial General Studies OER degree options (or z-degrees) focus on two transfer paths within the program, Psychology and English although students are not limited to those transfer options. This degree typically serves 9,000 students each semester, [..]

Una Daly on March 21, 2017

Multiple OER Pathways to Student Success

Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) was an early adopter of OER, with initial support from the Chancellor’s Innovation fund in 2013 and the Virginia state Zx23 grant in 2015. Through Achieving the Dream’s OER Initiative, CVCC is re-designing three existing degree programs into OER. The two-semester General Education Certificate is targeted at students completing general education courses towards an associate’s degree. The two-year Associate [..]

Una Daly on March 21, 2017

zELI OER Degrees: General Studies & Social Sciences

Overview Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) has built a large and robust nationally recognized program using open educational resources (OER) and was the first community college to share their courses in an open repository.  NOVA’s zELI OER degree initiative currently offers online OER Associate Degree pathways in General Studies and Social Sciences through NOVA’s Extended Learning Institute (ELI). The initiative received the WCET WOW [..]

Una Daly on January 24, 2017