OER News

Santa Ana College Participates in Open Education Week - March 4-8, 2019

In honor of Open Education Week, Santa Ana College faculty will wear their "SAC Uses OER/ZTC" T-shirts, pass out fliers on how to search for OER courses and will have a discussion with their students about why they chose to use OER in their classes and discuss student thoughts on OER and their course materials.

Ask about OER/ZTC and the SAC OER/ZTC Degree Pathway!

OER T-Shirts.JPG

OpenEd Conference: SAC Students participate as Keynote Speakers

The OpenEd Conference is an annual conference for Open Educational Resources (OER) community, including college faculty, administrators and staff. Santa Ana College students, John Dianito, Eduardo Guapilla, Michelle Maldonado, Luisa Ortez and Eileen Zavala participated as student panelists providing compelling experiences with OER at SAC.

Photo Credit: Serena Hazel, Aaron Moctezuma, Matthew Martinez (SAC Lightworks Photo Club)

SAC Students are Saying:

"Thank you to the teachers who already have implemented it (OER) in their programs, and their teaching style, it's been a huge help"
"When I took OER, it changed my life and now almost every class that I'm taking is an OER resource. So, thank you, and consider it please."
"the cost benefit of OER really helped a lot. I was able to stay on track with my ed plan, able to graduate from the community college and I was able to transfer to the University right on schedule."

"I feel OER materials is actually used a lot more than the standard classroom (material)."
"the textbook quality is actually the same or even better, and more up-to-date than the older textbooks."
"I feel the printed materials sometimes end up, just getting lost."
"I realized I can still highlight on the page online, and I can still write notes. I don't need the printed material. I can search easier online'"

Santa Ana College Awarded the Zero Textbook Cost Degree Grant
by the California Community College Chancellor's Office

The Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Degree program is one of the Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives to improve teaching, learning, and accessibility for all learners at California Higher Education institutions. SAC is one of 20 California Community Colleges to be awarded the Implementation Phase II RFA for 2017/18.

Textbook Costs Inspire New Alternatives for Students by Natalie James

A national leader in collegiate student media, the Santa Ana College el Don, has published an informative article on Open Educational Resources and how SAC students benefit from an affordable textbook alternative. Read the online el Don article for more information!

Open Educational Resources Summit a Resounding Success!

$Breakout Session Math$ OER Lunch

Dr. David Wiley Keynote Address Creative Commons

VP Academic Affairs, Carlos Lopez OER Welcome

SAC OER Summit Tshirt Ask Me About OER Santa Ana College

Santa Ana College Marquee OER Summit Welcome OER Colleagues October 7th

Santa Ana College hosted an Open Educational Resources Summit on Friday, October 7, 2016. With 120 participants from 15 Colleges and Universities from Southern California, the OER Summit far exceeded expectations.

The workshop was fantastic. Very well organized.

Dr. David Wiley was a very informative and engaging speaker.

I am really excited to start researching OER materials for my course.

Dr. David Wiley was so inspirational, and the students' voices were so amazing.

The Summit opened with Vice President of Academic Affairs, Carlos Lopez, welcoming the participants and guest speaker Dr. David Wiley. Wiley's keynote address explored "The Power of Open Educational Resources," further explaining and defining the concept of "Open." Open Educational Resources are characterized by providing "free and unfettered access, and perpetual, irrevocable 5R permissions." Wiley further identified the 5R permissions as "Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute." Once defined, Wiley acknowledged the "high impact of OER adoption that improves affordability, improves student success, invigorates pedagogy, and does it at scale."

View highlights from Dr. David Wiley's keynote address, "The Power of Open Educational Resources," and PowerPoint Slides below.

The Power of Open Educational Resources from David Wiley

The Santa Ana College Faculty panel enlightened educators on the reasons why they selected OER material for their courses, and the advantages of OER that they have witnessed for themselves and their students.

OER is flexible and customizable to my teaching style and student interests.

With OER, I can make my class better and I've seen the results in my student success.

Contrary to popular belief, there is technical support available for OER.

OER provides better equity and access for my students.

My students like how it was organized, the low cost, and that it was online and easily available.

The cost is the biggest thing, the normal textbook cost is $120. The students are elated.

All my students have the textbook on the first day, and we can just jump in.

The students were very excited they didn't have a textbook.

Watch SAC faculty panelist, Claire Coyne, talk about her students' response to the use of OER in her course.

The panel of Santa Ana College Students was one of the highlights of the OER Summit. The students eloquently expressed the benefits and impact that OER had on their education.

I really enjoy all of the pictures, diagrams, and interactive materials within the textbook, and downloading it helps me to study.

The OER text is great! I appreciate the savings!

I like that the textbook material is online and accessible ... less paper to go through!

OER is so much better ... easy on the wallet and are great resources.

I like that the content comes from different sources. I can't imagine a traditional text being any more effective.

Simple textbook and I love that it's free!

I would highly recommend OER classes to my friends. They will stay more engaged!

If you are using OER, thank you! I'll be looking for your classes!

I am able to take more classes, and I'm able to afford the books.

I've taken courses with publisher material and there was really no difference in quality.

With OER, it allowed me to stay on track with my Ed Plan, and I am going to graduate!

When I plan out my classes, I look for OER classes or professors that use OER.

The cost of textbooks drives my course selection.

Watch SAC student panelists, John and Kenny, explain the positive impact that OER has had on their education and their lives.

The afternoon breakout sessions of the OER Summit were dedicated to assisting educators in locating OER materials and resources specific to their discipline. Overall, the OER Summit exceeded expectations for organizers, presenters, and participants. 95% of responding attendees indicated that they are very likely or likely to use OER in a future course, and felt that the sessions were positive, professional and inspirational.

Santa Ana College Hosted OER Summit on Friday, October 7th, 2016

7:30 - 8:00am	Registration/Coffee
8:00 - 8:15am	Welcome
8:15 - 9:30am	Keynote: David Wiley "OER 101"
9:30 - 10:30am	Faculty Panel
10:30 - 11:30am	Student Panel
11:30 - 12:00pm	* Lunch *
12:00 - 2:00pm	OER Discovery Hands-on, breakout by discipline

"David is one of America's most innovative thinkers on the future of learning. His cutting-edge work is helping America find ways of cutting costs while delivering a world-class education to all our students. Harnessing the promise of technology to drive better results is David's trademark."

Adam Frankel, Executive Director, National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies (Digital Promise)

Santa Ana College Selected for Achieving the Dream OER Degree Initiative

Santa Ana College was recently selected to be part of the Achieving the Dream's Open Educational Resources (OER) Degree initiative. SAC is one of only 38 community colleges nationwide that will be working to ensure equity for students in the coming year by creating two degree pathways utilizing OER materials!