Here is the list of Spring 2018 ZTC and LTC courses as of 2/1/17.

Faculty who are teaching a ZTC or LTC course and are not on this list need to submit the new textbook adoption form which now allows you to select ZTC or LTC.  This form is sent to the bookstore to ensure the information is available to students on the bookstore website and is also sent to the instruction office to officially mark the course in the class schedule.

Thank you everyone for being patient with us as we started our CALM program and developed this new process for recognizing CALM courses.

Spring 2018 ZTC and LTC Courses

“Adding alternative text for images is the first principle of web accessibility. It is also one of the most difficult to properly implement” ~WebAIM

Are you using images in your OER learning materials?  Have you included alternative text, called alt text, for each image?

WebAIM provides very helpful information on the proper use of alt-text.

Here are some key takeaways:

• Your use of atl text will depend on the content and function of the image.
• If your image is fully described in the text you may not need alt text and could instead include an  empty or null alt attribute (e.g., alt=””).
• Do not start alt text with “this is an image” or “Image of”.  The screen reader already knows it is an image, so you don’t need to tell the reader again that it is an image.
• Be succinct and don’t be redundant.
• A handy trick explained by WebAIM: “In many cases you can ask the question ‘If I could not use this image, what would I put in its place?’ to determine appropriate alternative text. In the example above, it’s not likely that the handshake photo would be replaced with text, thus alt=”” is probably sufficient.”

For more information please read through the WebAIM article on Alternative text: https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/

In this webinar, you can hear from librarians and faculty who are working together to support the selection and adoption of high-quality open educational resources to enhance teaching and learning. Leveraging the key role and skill set of librarians for curating high-quality and openly licensed resources can give faculty time to focus on the pedagogical enhancements available through OER adoption in their courses.

Featured Speakers:

• Tina Ulrich, Library Director, Northwestern Michigan College
• Elizabeth Sonnabend, Adjunct Business Instructor, Northwestern Michigan College.
• Dr. Sharon Hughes, Professor of Psychology, Lansing Community College
• Regina Gong, Librarian and OER Project Manager, Lansing Community College

Teachers have been doing this forever!  We are now just making it accepted and normal!

Please join us for our North County Higher Education Alliance (NCHEA) conference focusing on Open Educational Resources (OER).

Download (PDF, 1.9MB)

Please give us feedback on ZTC, OER, and CALM:

The Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) implementation grant requires us to identify a degree or pathway that a student could complete without cost.  If you are either teaching a zero cost course or would like to, please let us know which area of the CSU GE pathway your course would align with.

In December 2016 we applied for a Zero Textbook Cost Planning grant.  This grant was for $35,000 and was used to begin a program at Palomar dedicated to reducing textbook costs for students.

Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Planning Grant

• Palomar College ZTC Planning Grant (this document is the grant we wrote to get the planning grant)
• Palomar college ZTC Planning Grant Final Report

We are working on applying for the Implementation Grant, which would provide $150,000 to develop a zero cost degree or CTE certificate programs.

In September, the governor signed senate bill 1359 which requires all community colleges and CSUs to highlight course sections in the schedule of classes that have no textbook costs for students.  We call these Zero-Textbook-Cost courses or ZTC for short.  The legislation says that this requirement becomes operative on January 1, 2018.

A memo from the Chancellors office regarding a common logo was sent on June 1st informed us that the Chancellors office designed a common logo to be used by CCC’s.

Refer to the Chancellor’s Office Open Educational Resources webpage for more Zero Textbook Cost program information.

How has the cost of your textbooks impacted you this semester?
How would more affordable textbooks help you and students like you?

Do you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions about the CALM program?

Please leave us a comment!