2019

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has urged local academic senates to identify a local open educational resources (OER) point-person to act as a liaison to facilitate OER-related communication between the college and the ASCCC (Resolution 17.02 F18);

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges’ Open Educational Resources (OER) Initiative is supporting the growth of OER use across the colleges by developing resources and supporting local OER liaisons who may or may not receive support from their colleges;

Whereas, SB 1359 (Block, 2016) requires all segments of public higher education in California to “Clearly highlight, by means that may include a symbol or logo in a conspicuous place on the online campus course schedule, the courses that exclusively use digital course materials that are free of charge to students and may have a low-cost option for print versions” (California Education Code §66406.9) as of January, 2018;

Whereas, Technology procurement at both the state and local level should be a transparent and inclusive process that involves all impacted constituencies and factors in both the direct and indirect costs associated with the adoption of new technologies;

Whereas, System-level purchases can be both economically and functionally advantageous;

Whereas, The use of CCCApply for all students to enter the California Community Colleges System is required as part of the implementation of the Student Success and Support Program;

Whereas, CCCApply is often the first opportunity in the enrollment and onboarding process for students to make choices about their academic careers, which will have a significant impact on their time to degree and dictate their course-taking behavior once enrolled;

Whereas, Oral and written testimony given through the consultation process used for the review of Minimum Qualifications for Faculty and Administrators in California Community Colleges, also known as the Disciplines List, supported the following addition of the Homeland Security discipline:

Master’s degree in Homeland Security, Emergency Management, Emergency Preparedness, Crisis Management, Disaster Management, or
Cybersecurity; and

Whereas, Cross-college online enrollments have increased due to California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI) efforts, and the terminology colleges use for online courses, hybrid courses, and courses with required proctoring on examinations differs significantly, causing confusion and frustration for students navigating multiple colleges;

Whereas, Resolution 13.03 F15 asserted that “incentivizing faculty to adopt any specific instructional materials over others could potentially compromise quality by encouraging or pressuring faculty to adopt materials that are less pedagogically sound” and opposed the provision of direct compensation to faculty for the adoption of open educational resources in the context of the implementation of AB 798 (Bonilla, 2015);

Whereas, All California community colleges are mandated to adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 sections 504 and 508, which require all educational printed and digital materials to be accessible;

Whereas, The California Community Colleges have Information Computer Technology Accessibility Standards including both the U.S. section 508 standards and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) that provide criteria for making information and communication technology more accessible;

Whereas, In the California Community Colleges, the course outline of record is the official document that establishes, among other things, the content, objectives, and instructional materials for a given course and is the basis for articulation;

Whereas, Both the California State University Chancellor’s Office and University of California Office of the President are on record establishing that the use of open educational resources (OER) that are comparable to commercial texts with respect to currency and stability does not jeopardize articulation; and

Whereas, Resolution 13.02 F15 directed the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges to “update its paper Noncredit Instruction: Opportunity and Challenge, adopted by the body in Spring 2009, no later than Spring 2017 to include recent developments affecting noncredit, including using noncredit to improve equity and close the achievement gap, leveraging Career Development/College Preparation equalization funding, and addressing an increased emphasis on adult basic skills and workforce education”;