Skyline students course material cost data 2021Skyline College students have shared that high course material costs are a barrier to accessing college classes. To increase Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) course development and facilitate faculty exploration and innovation in finding new, better, and less costly ways to deliver quality learning materials to students, Skyline College and SMCCCD are providing professional development support and incentive funding for faculty to convert courses currently using traditional textbooks, Inclusive Access, and other for-cost materials to no-cost course materials such as OER and Library electronic resources. In addition to supporting adoption and implementation of ZTC by individual faculty, the award especially encourages scaling of ZTC implementation across all sections of high-enrollment courses in order to impact a significant number of students.

It is noteworthy that:

  • The incentive awards are over and above compensation for base and overload (when applicable) faculty work assignments.
  • All awardees must utilize materials associated with project award(s) in teaching assignments for their course(s).
  • Faculty may only receive one award per course.
  • The initial determination regarding approval of ZTC Early Adopters project applications shall be made by the Zero Textbook Cost Work Group.

Contact Us

Want to participate? Have questions?

Contact the ZTC Team at: skylineztc@smccd.edu

 

Eligibility

This award is available to all Faculty at Skyline College.

  • Full-time and Part-time Faculty are eligible to submit an application under any Category

ZTC Early Adopters Project Categories

Culminating project deliverable is to Adopt and implement a single OER textbook/resource or ZTC Skyline Library eBook/eResource to replace your traditionally published for-cost textbook/resource. Project activities include:

  • identification of existing ZTC and/or OER materials that would be suitable for the course under consideration
  • reviewing those materials to ensure they are in line with course outcomes and student success, and have the quality and rigor to maintain the integrity of the course 
  • selecting, adopting, and implementing the ZTC or OER material in your course no-cost to students (ZTC) course. 

The award for Category 1 – Adopt a Creative Commons licensed OER or ZTC Skyline Library eBook/resource is $500 per faculty for a single course.

Culminating project deliverable is to Adapt, remix, or curate a collection of existing OER material and/or create new supplemental OER material to implement in your ZTC course as well as share with the broader OER community. This option is designed for faculty that know a bit about the available OER, open-access, and zero-textbook cost (ZTC) options in their discipline. Adapt OER results in production of new Creative Commons licensed material. Project activities may include:

  • identification of existing Creative Commons licensed, ZTC, and/or OER materials that would be suitable for the course under consideration
  • reviewing those materials to ensure they align with course outcomes and student success, and have the quality and rigor to maintain the integrity of the course; 
  • working with ZTC project leads to develop a work plan to adapt materials to make them suitable for their course
  • editing existing chapters
  • adding new materials from other sources
  • removing sections not appropriate
  • bringing together several Creative Commons licensed sources, etc. 
  • creating new supplemental materials to augment an adopted OER also results in new OER material. Examples of this would include creating test banks, PowerPoint presentations, videos, images, lectures, lab manuals, and other supplemental materials.
  • implementing the deliverable OER material(s) in your no-cost to students (ZTC) course.

The award for Category 2 – Adapt OER is $2,000 per faculty for a single course.

Culminating project deliverable is the Authoring of new and original OER content to replace a traditional textbook/resource to implement in your ZTC course as well as share with the greater OER community. This option is designed for faculty interested in developing and creating substantially new OER course material where it is demonstrated that quality OER resources are not currently available to meet learning objectives. Author OER results in production of new and original Creative Commons licensed material. Project activities may include: 

    • identification and review of existing OER materials relevant to your course SLOs
    • consultation with OER discipline experts regarding existing OER quality issues
    • working with ZTC project leads to develop a work plan to create materials and make them suitable for your course
    • authoring new and original OER material(s) to be implemented as a primary course resource in your no-cost to students (ZTC) course(s) (e.g., textbook replacement, custom reader, workbook, lab manual, & etc.) 

This includes the work involved in writing, developing, creating open textbooks and, if applicable, accompanying supplemental materials such as test banks, PowerPoint presentations, videos, images, lectures, lab manuals, and other supplemental materials. 

The award for Category 3 – Author New OER Material is $5,000 per faculty for a single course.

 

The Request for ZTC Early Adopter Course Project Applications is currently closed. This page will be updated as additional opportunities become available.

 

Steps to submit ZTC Early Adopter course project proposal
  1. Review the ZTC project category descriptions.
  2. Consider your project goals and deliverables, as well as your timeframe and anticipated workload. 
  3. Select the Category appropriate to your ZTC project.
  4. Complete all sections of the application form.
  5. Sign the form.
  6. Submit your ZTC Early Adopter single-course project application:

Have questions? Please reach out to the ZTC Team at Skyline at SkylineZTC@smccd.edu for additional information.