Free and Low-Cost Textbooks:

SB 1359 and Beyond• Shannon Mills, Anthropology Professor,

Academic Senate President, CRC• Bruce Zenner, Chemistry Professor, SCC• Daniel Crump, Public Services Librarian, ARC• Albert Garcia, Interim Vice President of

Innovation and Student Success, LRCCD

SB 1359 (2016) RequiresCalifornia Community Colleges 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.

• Clearly communicate to students that the course materials used for the courses identified…are free of charge and therefore not required to be purchased.

We are calling these sections ZTC (for Zero Textbook Cost)

Three examples of ZTC

sections…

The following section looks

like a ZTC section…

but…

And this one also looks like a

ZTC section

But…

Online homework may be required.

Why Use Zero Cost Textbooks? Greater Student Access• No “waiting” for funding to purchase (many financial

aid constraints)o Eliminates delay in beginning course progress (can start reading ASAP!)

• Students will have the book o No guessing if students ever bought the book at allo No book sharing/swappingo No trips to the library, open labs, etc. that may not fit student

schedules

• More likely to read if they actually have the materials!

• No issues with “edition” conflicts (2nd? 3rd? 6th?) = Higher Student Success

Can EVERYONE use Zero Cost Texts?

Maybe not right now…but in the future? • There are some disciplines that are more

difficult to find good free resources in, especially those that have content that changes frequently and are highly technical. o That isn’t saying it can’t be done, but

that it may be more challenging.

• Options: CREATE YOUR OWN? COLLABORATE WITH COLLEAGUES?

Educational Costs• Textbook and homework code costs

can exceed $1000/semester.• Many LRCCD students qualify for BoG

fee waivers, and financial issues are one of the most common reasons first year student drop out!

• These are the only educational costs within faculty control.

Ways To Reduce Costs• Permit the use of older edition

textbooks.• Prepare readers and lab manuals,

published locally.• Purchase textbooks sets for semester

checkout at the LRC.• Use Open Educational Resources.

Where/How do I find OER?1. Talk to your colleagues – does anyone on your campus or in the District have any available resources? Sharing is caring!

2. Experts in your field. • Is anything available? Have you checked the professional

associations in your area of expertise?

3. Curated sources of Open Educational Resources:CANVAS/OpenStaxCool4Ed: http://cool4ed.org/Merlot: https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htmLibreText: https://chem.libretexts.org/

Los Rios Sources on ZTC, OER and Low-Cost

Materials• http://libguides.arc.losrios.edu/oer

• https://www.scc.losrios.edu/oer/

• https://researchguides.crc.losrios.edu/oer