League for Innovation in the Community College March 2018

MARICOPA Millions MAKING THE MOST OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES BY LIS A YOUNG , ALIS A COOPER, AND ANGEL A CHRISTIANO T he cost of higher education is rising at an alarming To address this challenge, the Maricopa County Community rate, with course materials and textbooks seeing some College District (MCCCD) launched the Maricopa Millions of the most dramatic increases. Along with increased Project to support use of open educational resources (OER) – costs, fewer students are buying textbooks and course teaching, learning, and research resources that are copyright- materials. A 2011 survey by the U.S. Public Interest Research free or have been released under a copyright license that Group, as reported by Molly Redden in The Chronicle of permits others to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute them. Higher Education, found that 70 percent of students had OER range from full courses, modules, and syllabi to class and not purchased a textbook because of the price. Of these, 78 lab activities, homework assignments, and quizzes, plus many percent believed they would perform worse in class as a result. more resources contained in digital media collections from Although instructors expect students to use course materials around the world. for their classes, many do not. This can greatly impact student success. The goal of Maricopa Millions is to radically decrease student costs by offering no-cost or low-cost options for course materials. No-cost courses have no additional cost to the student beyond fees associated with tuition, and low-cost courses have required course materials that are under $40. These costs may be associated with printing of required OER materials, copyrights for textbooks, online homework/quizzing systems, or similar facets of OER use. When OER are used, 100 percent of students have access to their course materials on the first day of class and whenever needed. When Maricopa Millions was launched in 2012, the ultimate goal was to save MCCCD students $5 million in five years. This process was supported by a white paper written by a small group of faculty convened to investigate OER. It led to creation of an OER Steering Team of administration, faculty, and academic services and IT staff. The team developed a MARCH 2018 17

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