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CLC receives $10,000 OER grant

Central Lakes College was recently awarded a $10,000 Innovation Grant from Minnesota State to sustain its Open Education Resources (OER) work through the next academic year.

OER is a term that describes openly licensed online text, media and other digital assets used in education. OER is used in place of expensive commercial textbooks.

“This grant will allow CLC to continue to offer course redesign opportunities to faculty, which will strengthen our Z-Degree pathway through our Associate of Arts Degree,” said Martha Kuehn, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Through the Z-Degree, students can already earn their AA without buying a textbook, and this latest grant will provide more choices for our students.”

This new grant will build on the great work that CLC has already done in offering students the option of online resources instead of buying expensive textbooks. The college hopes to increase its use of OERs, expand its list is zero textbook cost courses and broaden the Z-Degree. (CLC was the first public school in the state to offer the Z-Degree!)

 

A look at the numbers: The impact of OER

  • CLC faculty have redesigned courses to move from using expensive commercial textbooks to OER.  In FY 2018, students enrolled in 22 of these courses saved $129,000.
  • In FY 2017, the savings from OER totaled $106,000.
  • CLC spending on textbooks for its PSEO students have decreased from $360 per student in Fall 2013 to $221 per student in Fall 2017, thanks to faculty who have moved from using commercial textbooks to open educational materials.
  • CLC faculty also collaborate with CIS high school partners to incorporate OER into our courses in the high school.

 

About Jessie Perrine

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