Open Educational Resources (OER) at Bay College
"OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge."
- Hewlett Foundation
Bay College has saved students over $300,000 on textbooks since Fall 2015 semester. Starting Fall 2017, students can earn an associate of arts degree using only Open Educational Resources, making the dream of a degree more of a reality. Currently, Bay College has 28 cources that use OER. These OER textbooks are free online. Most are also available in the bookstore in print for the cost of production and under $40.
Achieving the Dream
In June 2016 Bay College was awarded a grant from Achieving the Dream (ATD) to a complete degree pathway using all OER. Bay College will be transitioning courses to open educational resources starting immediately, and entire OER degree pathways in Liberal Arts will be available by Fall of 2018.
The OER Degree Initiative will create a library of high-quality, digital, open courses available to other institutions and the public at large. Making resources easily available to all is expected to encourage OER adoption even at non-participating institutions.
ATD will help colleges make OER degrees critical elements of their student success efforts. Lumen Learning will provide technical assistance, SRI International will evaluate the implementation, and the Community College Consortium of Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) will facilitate a community of practice.
Bay College has a total of 23 classes certified as OER through Lumen Learning, our grant partner, for a total of 74 credits. 10 more credits are under production for Winter 2018 semester.
Building a Degree with Open Educational Resources at Bay College
Student Savings with Open Educational Resources at Bay College
Teacher Benefits Using Open Educational Resources at Bay College