Districtwide - Student Textbook Affordability Committee (STAC)

September 6, 2023

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Meeting Notes

Members:

Allen Kuo, Angela Boyd, Anne Gloag, Brian Palmiter, Brian Weston, Desiree Payne, Diana Vera-Alba, Edward Borek, Lily Cava, Lisa Burgert, Nancy Wichmann, Pegah Motaleb, Rob Meyers, Sandra Pesce, Sol Madrid, Devika Chhabra, Melanie Nakaji, Kelly Spoon, Victor DeVore, Allen Kuo and Scott Kraus

Meeting Notes

The meeting notes from May 4 2023, meeting were reviewed.

Welcome

Brian welcomed the group and kicked off introductions. Brian Weston- Dean of Online and Distributed Learning; Sandra Pesce - Resource Librarian City College and Senate Representative; Nancy Wichmann - Campus Stores and Enterprise Services/Financing; Mary Kingsley – District Secretary to Brian Weston; Pegah Motaleb – English Professor Mesa College; Melanie Nakaji - ASL Instructor City College; Devika Chhabra - Accessibility and DSPS System Manager District Office; Diana Vera-Alba - ESL faculty at CCE, APC at CC campus, and OER Liaison for AFCCC; Desiree Payne – Systems Support Analyst District Office; Madeline Button – CFG ZTC/OER Analyst District Office; Kelly Spoon(absent) – CFG ZTC/OER support District Office; Lily Cava – Bookstore Supervisor Miramar College; Anne Gloag - Math Faculty Miramar; and Victor DeVore – Dean of Student Services District Office

Teams Channel

Brian created a Teams Channel for this group that will facilitate information sharing and allow for conversations via chat. Brian encouraged the group to use this resource to share resources, news updates, and share important information between meetings.

Summer Projects

In August 2022, the Community Funding Grant (CFG) a $975,000 federal grant was awarded to the San Diego Community College District to expand a program that provides free online textbooks and resources to students, saving them the cost of buying expensive books for their classes. The Community Funding Project grant came through the support of Rep. Scott Peters and is currently managed by Brian Weston.

Brian thanked the members of this group who have participated in the application and review process to issue awards for ZTC/OER projects throughout the district. The second round of applicant projects have been approved. Madeline is providing support for 27 projects throughout the district. She shared that nearly one-third of awardees have already completed their projects and these projects have been shared with the community. She anticipates Kelly reporting that up to half of the projects should be completed by Spring 2024. District projects range from building textbooks to developing curriculum from the ground up. Awards cover a wide range of disciplines that are developing materials such as Language, Math, Chemistry, Arts, Human Development, and ESL. The CFG covers projects all across the district and all across the board on subjects. Two colleges are completing the same degree with two completely different ZTC paths, while one of the colleges as not ventured down that road. We have a lot of great ZTC/OER work to demonstrate. One CFG example is an instructor taking materials from Oregon and localizing the materials for San Diego students. Brian looks forward to sharing the committee’s progress during DE Week October 9-13, 2023.

ZTC Mapper

Desiree reported that she has been working with ZTC Mapper and has provided data files to create a webpage. The webpage will display our ZTC data from City, Mesa, and Miramar at the program award level, course level, and class section level. We hope that the webpage will be launched this Fall 2023; it will not include CCE at this time. As we move forward, and better data becomes available, we will be able to pull course and program level data for all four colleges. She shared that she will be happy to provide a demonstration once more data has been reported. Brian reminded the group that funding for ZTC mapper project came from Round One from the state where they offered $20k per each credit college. This was a great use of the funds as we start to track courses and as we increase OER and ZTC courses throughout the district.

Round 1 $20k - complete

Round 3 $180k – These funds were automatically awarded with a reporting date of 2025. We are working with the VPIs and providing input, but the degree was entirely up to the colleges. We have sent information on tracks where we can see college themes that the VPIs may want to consider.

Round 2 $200k per degree - Whatever degree is chosen you can apply for up to $200k with funds good until 2026 and deadline coming up quickly. They are hoping that each college can put into the NOVA system if you are interested or not. The state budget has enough funds for at least one degree per California Community College. We are hopeful that each college will at least apply for one. Please have your dean reach out to the VPIs letting them know you are interested. Also, VPI Spradly is aware that non-credit could be eligible. Eligibility will depend what credit colleges choose and there is a chance that we can tie-in and be a part of the credit college application. This is a wonderful opportunity for the district. Even if the goal is complete ZTC, if materials can’t be converted for some reason, maybe the grant could fund that one item. We could report that we did all that we could to lower costs. Applications are due September 15.

XB 12 Instructional Material Cost

The State is looking at how we label our courses. You can see how our courses are tagged on our online class search. Under $40 is considered a low textbook course. The search also includes ZTC courses. The State is collecting the information on materials to gain better insight on costs for education across the CCC. Victor is working with IT on how to flag courses with low-cost textbook along with no-cost and zero-cost courses. Nancy suggested looking at SKUs which could provide information on courses with no instructional materials. Victor shared that once we get reporting done for MIS we can use that information in the online class schedule. He hopes to be ready by the end of this year for a Spring 2024 launch.

Nancy clarified that the low-cost icon was for courses below $40 for everything excluding supplies. If we had two $30-books the course would not qualify. Nancy had to be careful with instructors adding items and price changes. Rob shared there are courses like Architecture that have hundreds of dollars of things a student needs for the class; the rule doesn’t make sense because it is not a textbook, but the course is still expensive. Nancy shared that extras like ‘art kits’ should be added. Brian agreed that courses requiring goggles/lab-coat should be labeled as low cost, but as long as it is labeled as supplies it is not counted. Nancy said she labels it as ‘course required.’ Rob does not feel we are recording it correctly. Brian said that to be transparent we could state ‘There are additional cost of supplies.’ The State is focusing on text and specifically said that supplies are separate. Brian shared that software would qualify as course materials because it is necessary of the learning outcome of the class. If you need a beaker that becomes ‘Instructional Material Required.’ It would benefit all of us to have the true and total cost information upfront. Brian shared that ultimate goal is transparency for students and making costs as visible as possible in the class schedule. Also, if a ‘high power’ computer is required for graphics course etc. that should be labeled but not considered instructional material. Victor reminded the group that instructional materials need to stay with student after purchase. Brian would like to bring this issue back to the group for a final decision.

Updates

OpenStax integration has been enabled in Canvas. Please help promote to faculty.

Online Learning Pathways is hosting DE Week Oct 9-13. Thank you to Angela is for collaboration with Miramar’s LibreText presentation. Also, this is a call-out for anybody that would like to showcase their OER work.

Next Meeting: Thursday, September 7, 2:00-3:00pm

Respectfully submitted: Mary Kingsley