OER (Open Educational Resources) hold great promise for reducing costs and increasing access to required course materials. Community colleges around the country (Washington, California, Virginia) have joined in with national efforts to increase the production and use of OER materials. Washington’s OER project saved students over $1.25 million in just the 2011-12 academic year, and over $5.5 million since 2011.
The main goal of the Maricopa Millions Open Education Resources (OER) Project is to reduce educational costs for students. Spending less money on textbooks and materials will foster greater access to materials for students, which may enable them to stay on track with completing their courses.
The Maricopa Millions OER Project includes developing a strategic, sustainable OER infrastructure that would include: awareness, professional development, OER development and technical support, marketing and technical structure. In order for OER to be successful at MCCCD, we have established an OER strategic planning and implementation team to establish and oversee specific OER outcomes over the next 5 years.
The driving objective for the project is to save MCCCD students $5 Million Dollars over the next five years through the use of OER materials. And we’ve already reached our goal in 2 1/2 years, but we’re not stopping there.
This Maricopa Millions OER project, through an internal grant process, supports the adoption, adaptation, and development of complete OER course materials for high enrollment courses in the MCCCD. The final product will be OER course materials that can be easily adopted and modified by other faculty (including adjuncts) teaching that course. Phase 1-3 targeted high enrollment courses. In Phase 4-5 we welcomed all courses to be submitted for the grant.
In Phase 6 we continue to welcome all courses to be submitted for the grant. However, most math courses and the following courses (ENG091, ENG101, ENG102, RDG091, CHM130LL, GBS151, PSY101, PSY230, BIO156, CHM130, CHM150/151/152, HES100, and SWU292) are not eligible, as they have already been funded and/or developed.
A
statement of interest is requested by
5pm on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. If submitted, this information will be used to introduce faculty who may have interests in creating the same course in an effort to encourage collaboration. The statement of interest is not required but strongly encouraged.
Proposals are due by
5pm on
Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Group proposals will be accepted and are encouraged.
Grant proposals are now being accepted for OER Development Grants. For more information regarding the OER Development Grant program, please visit our website .
Calling all faculty! The “some day when we leave WebCT” is drawing near! It is finally time to leave the Jurassic Era that is WebCT and move into the 21st Century – enter, Canvas!
In September the governing board approved the RFP award for the new Learning Management System to a company called Instructure with their LMS, Canvas. MCC has been selected as the first Maricopa school to move to this new system. As part of the migration from WebCT to Canvas the CTL will run two different programs in an effort to work collaboratively with the college and the unique needs of each department and hopefully, ease the migration process for everyone. Currently we anticipate that all faculty will be using the Canvas system beginning Summer I, 2012.
Canvas Pioneer Program
Summary: The Canvas Pioneer Program is a voluntary program with no stipend given. Faculty that are teaching a late-start spring course beginning no earlier than March of 2012 may apply to this program. The 25-30 faculty that are selected will receive early training and access to the production system and will be the first faculty teaching within the new Canvas LMS. They will be asked to share feedback on their migration / transition to Canvas, they will be asked to complete a survey about the training, migration, and teaching process, and they will be asked to deliver a survey to their students asking for feedback.
Selection will be based on uniqueness, discipline/department, technologies, and teaching and learning techniques so that we may fully test as many aspects of the new system as possible. A variety of departments is desired so that we can ensure we test the system early with your departments unique online teaching and learning needs.
Canvas Pioneer Application for Late-Start Spring 2012: http://tinyurl.com/canvaspioneer
Applications will be accepted until November 17th, 2011 at 5pm.
Canvas Faculty Mentoring Program
Summary: The Canvas Faculty Mentoring Program is a program for residential faculty with a maximum stipend of $2000. The selected “faculty mentors” would be given training and access to the Canvas system first so that they could help support other faculty during the migration process. These mentors will be used to staff Canvas open labs and to be liasions within your departments to ensure that all faculty have the support they need during this transition. Currently we anticipate that all faculty will be using the Canvas system beginning Summer I, 2012.
Faculty Mentor responsibilities include:
- Completing Canvas and/or Quality Matters training sessions,
- Staffing 3 open labs a month from March 2012 through September 2012 (inclusive of summer)
- Communicating Canvas updates to their assigned departments/chairs.
Selection will be based on location/department/discipline, availability during the summer months, experience in the current LMS, and experience with the Quality Matters rubric.
Canvas Faculty Mentoring Application: http://tinyurl.com/canvasmentor
Applications will be accepted until November 17th, 2011 at 5pm.
Questions? Concerns? Please contact the CTL: ctl@mesacc.edu or 480-461-7331.
Hewlett-Packard Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative – Higher Education Edition – FY 2008
FUNDING SOURCE: Hewlett-Packard Company Philanthropy and Education
The purpose of this program is to support innovative and effective uses of mobile technology to improve teaching and learning in educational systems. Colleges and universities, are expected to not only provide technology in the classroom setting but also incorporate technology into lesson plans and curriculum.
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