Expanding Textbook Affordability Programs on your Campus and Requesting Additional State Funding Opportunities
January 30, 2018 at Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport
Hosted by Academic Sponsor California State University
OLC is going to Los Angeles to meet with online learning professionals, educators and administrators to address the opportunities and challenges we all face in online higher education today.
Join us to discuss emerging trends and challenges in online learning.
Join your fellow online learning professionals, educators and administrators to hear from the experts and collaborate on solving the challenges we all face in online higher education today. You’ll get the chance to hear from regional experts regarding current and emerging trends in online learning, collaborate and network with your regional peers during group discussions on top-of-mind challenges that may impact the future of online learning – and your career.
Member Pricing
Our one day event is only $150* for OLC members. Membership discount applied upon registration. Lunch is included in registration fee.
Our one day event is only $150* for OLC members. Membership discount applied upon registration. Lunch is included in registration fee.
*A $50 fee will be charged for all cancelled registrations. Refund requests must be made in writing to Online Learning Consortium. Cancellation by January 2 (up to 1 month out): Refund of payment minus the $50 cancellation fee(s). Cancellation between January 3 and January 22: 50% refund will be issued less a $50 administrative/cancellation fee for registrations. There will be no refunds within 1 week of event date (cancellations must be received by January 22, 2018). If you are not able to attend, a substitute may attend in your place. The name, title, and email address of the substitute must be emailed to conference@onlinelearning-c.org. If you do not attend the program and do not submit a written refund request, Online Learning Consortium will retain all fees. IF you have not paid in advance but have cancelled your registration, you are responsible for the cancellation fee and will be billed. OLC is not responsible for any change / cancellation charges assessed by airlines, travel agents, hotels or other similar vendors. Email all cancellation requests/substitutions/ registration questions to conference@onlinelearning-c.org.
Institutional Members
If your institution is a member, you must have an individual user account. Register as a free OLC Community Member and affiliate with your member institution.
If your institution is a member, you must have an individual user account. Register as a free OLC Community Member and affiliate with your member institution.
Not yet a member?
Non-member fee is $200*. You will also receive a free, three-month OLC professional membership (new members only; not applicable for renewals) as a part of your registration so you can get to know OLC and our community better! Details will be emailed post-conference. Lunch is included in registration fee.
Engaging speakers, relevant topics, and dynamic discussions
We will take a deep look at the challenges and impact of online learning in higher education today and work together to collaborate, define and help shape the changing university.
Presentations will be followed by facilitator-led discussions that will allow participants to delve into each topic in greater detail.
California legislation continues to support textbook affordability for CA student success in higher ed. Since 2013 the state’s OER directive has been to establish and expand faculty and student awareness of potential course materials’ savings and revise teaching and learning strategies due to growing availability of quality no-cost and low-cost course materials. The California State University and the California Community Colleges have been employing multiple strategies in order to build adoption and implementation capacities with the support of the legislation and non-profit foundation funding. This conference is going to focus on participating campus’ successes and collaboration in order to advance the use of affordable textbooks and OER. Participants will take away the new tools and resources available for successful campus implementation as well as exemplary practices from colleague’s textbook affordability programs. In addition, the second funding round for 2018/2019 AB 798 funds will be initiated (MORE MONEY FOR CCC and CSU through RFP). Come hear more about these funding opportunities available to serve your students!
General presentations will be followed by facilitator-led breakout sessions that will allow you to delve into each topic in greater detail. Breakout sessions will offer small group discussions between participants from state community colleges and 4 year institutions and privates), between participants in different regions (e.g. rural, suburban, and urban), and between participants at different stages of program planning and execution (e.g. just starting to plan to experienced implementing programs). OLC Collaborate session archivists will document the discussions throughout the day, culminating in a regional response to the changing university. Though especially beneficial to higher education in California, we have designed the conference to benefit any higher education institution.
Innovation and RegulationPutting OER Innovations into Practice
Outcomes
AnalyticsStrategies for Program Goals and Learning Outcomes
AnalyticsStrategies for Program Goals and Learning Outcomes
Sustaining
CapabilitiesExpanding and Sustaining Affordable Course Materials’ Capabilities through Advocacy
CapabilitiesExpanding and Sustaining Affordable Course Materials’ Capabilities through Advocacy
Innovation
Impacts: 2028Shared
observations for a
regional response
serving as a
catalyst for change
Impacts: 2028Shared
observations for a
regional response
serving as a
catalyst for change
Breakout Topics:
- Breakout A – Starting a textbook affordability program at your campus: Are you new to the textbook affordability issues and want to learn how you can get a program started on your campus?
- Breakout B – Keeping the momentum of your textbook affordability program: You’ve launched your program and got early adopters on board. Now how do you expand your program to engage more faculty?
- Breakout C – Institutionalizing textbook affordability strategies: How can your campus sustain success of your program and produce evidence of the impact on your students?
Updates and Strategies for Sustaining Textbook Affordability in California Higher Ed
Dr. Gerry Hanley
Executive Director of MERLOT and Assistant Vice
Chancellor for Academic Technology Services
California State University, Office of the Chancellor
Since 2013, California legislation has supported its public higher education systems in reducing the cost of course materials for its students. The California State University’s MERLOT program has been instrumental in providing easy access to free and open educational resources (OER) which enables faculty to find, choose, and use the free instructional materials for their students. MERLOT has been used to deliver immediate convenience for faculty and student in finding free and open etextbooks on the California Open Online Library for Education and in the design of the SkillsCommons OER repository focused on career and technical education.
The presentation will demonstrate the newest capabilities of these open library services as well as highlight how some commercial partners can provide support for the campus’ textbook affordability programs. How to put innovations into practice so campuses can institutionalize the innovations will be another highlight. The presentation will also review multiple legislative requirements (e.g. AB 798 & SB 1359) and the procedure for CSU and CCC campuses submitting proposals for the next round of grants funded by AB 798 ($1.3M available). Finally, strategies for sustaining and expanding collaboration across California’s higher education systems will be proposed.
Breakout Topics:
- Breakout A – Designing your affordable learning solutions strategic plan: Who do you get involved in the planning and implementation?
- Breakout B – Aligning your affordable learning solutions program with your campus priorities: How can you leverage high priority programs, like the Graduation Initiative 2025, Student Success, Online Education, and Student Well-Being initiatives to help your AL$ program succeed?
- Breakout C – Sustaining your AL$ strategy: How can you keep the attention and resources flowing to your AL$ strategy when other new priorities begin to crowd out textbook affordability?
OER Services in SUNY: Access, Affordability, and Innovation
Mark McBride
Library Senior Strategist
Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS)
SUNY System Administration
Students in SUNY have voiced concerns about the high prices of textbooks and ancillary course materials for a number of years. SUNY designed a program called the SUNY OER Services to address these concerns. Although affordability is a foremost concern, the flexibility of OER empowers our faculty to personalize the learning for students and this has the potential to transform the teaching and learning experiences for faculty and students. Mr. McBride will share what is working in the SUNY system, how we support the Community Colleges and 4 year institutions in the SUNY system, and how we are helping campuses do their OER program planning and implementations.
- Breakout A – Student OERganizing: There are a lot of ways to get students involved in the creation of a vibrant OER program- from partnering with student groups on basic educational outreach, to having leaders sit on grant committees. We’ll dive in and provide examples from our chapter schools, and set aside time for staff and students to sit down together and explore avenues for cooperation. We’ll take the first steps in identifying allies and decision makers for your OER project, setting goals and benchmarks for success, and brainstorming events to boost participation.
- Breakout B – Assessing impact on students: How can you enable student organizations to help collect data and stories of the impact of cost savings for students?
- Breakout C – Engaging your students in building your AL$ collection of e-resources: How can you enable students to share what free and open educational resources they found helpful for their learning?
OERganizing: How to Build Student Leadership Around Textbook Affordability
Kaitlyn Vitez
Higher Education Advocate
US PIRG (Public Interest Research Groups)
Students have been at the forefront of social change for decades. The PIRGs have been a voice on college campuses for more than 45 years, creating change on the ground on issues like higher ed affordability, campus sustainability, and public health. In recent years, student activists have been essential players in creating strong OER programs in places like UMass Amherst, UConn, and Rutgers University. Remarks by Kaitlyn Vitez, US PIRG’s higher education advocate, on lessons learned and best practices, followed by a panel from PIRG students at UCLA, UCSD, and beyond on their experiences as advocates for affordable education.
SPECIAL
SESSION
SESSION
Available Open Textbooks In Canvas for All
Dr. Barbara Illowsky
Chief Academic Affairs Officer, Online Education Initiative
Foothill-De Anza Community College District
Students need access to required course materials on Day 1 of the course to increase their likelihood of success. Providing free access to these materials is an effective way to provide student equity, to lower the academic achievement gap, and to increase student success for all. The CA Community College Online Education Initiative (OEI) developed OER-enabled Canvas sample course shells for almost 30 Open Educational Resources (OER) textbooks. These ADA accessible shells are aligned to the OEI design rubric for effective teaching & learning. They are Creative Commons Attribution licensed, meaning that OEI retains the copyright and everyone is granted free permission to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the shells, with or without using these texts. Avoid “reinventing the virtual wheel!”
How will today’s textbook affordability initiatives impact our institutions in 2028?
Facilitator:
Dr. Gerry Hanley
Executive Director of MERLOT and Assistant Vice
Chancellor for Academic Technology Services
California State University, Office of the Chancellor
Panelists:
Mark McBride
Library Senior Strategist
Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS)
SUNY System Administration
Kaitlyn Vitez
Higher Education Advocate
US PIRG (Public Interest Research Groups)
Barbara Illowsky
Chief Academic Affairs Officer, Online Education Initiative
Foothill-De Anza Community College District
Moderated by Gerry Hanley, Executive Director of MERLOT and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Technology Services, California State University, Office of the Chancellor, participants from the discussion sessions will be selected to share their ideas, plans, and predictions of the effects of the textbook affordability initiatives on different stakeholder groups (e.g. students, faculty, and staff) and campus operations (e.g. bookstores, libraries, learning management systems, business relationships with publishers, etc.). The General Session presenters will comment on the presentations as well. The panel will be open to questions from the audience concerning the plans and expected impacts of AB 798 on the California Community Colleges and the Cal State University.
Making Textbook Affordability Programs on Your Campus Work
What will teaching, learning, and working in the Digital Age of Higher Education actually be like in the future? How much should today’s faculty and administrators do to prepare for this future? There is no question that extraordinary change is coming. The question is, how much of that change is within our powers of prediction, and how should we proactively prepare for the future?
Participate in the regional OLC Collaborate discussion on the “Making Textbook Affordability Programs on Your Campus Work” and share in an open dialogue with other colleagues from around the region.
Keynote speakers will offer insightful views of the changing university through short, focused presentations. This will bring together how the use of technologies, the dictate of economic realities, increasing regulatory oversight, the need for constant innovation, and new societal expectations of what colleges can and should be are bringing change to higher education.
Presentations will be followed by facilitator-led discussions to allow participants to delve into each topic in greater detail. OLC Collaborate session archivists will document the discussions throughout the day, culminating in a collaborate regional response to the changing university.
Collaborate General Sessions are 45 minutes long, followed by 45 minute Collaborate Breakout Sessions.
Attendees will select one of several breakout sessions to attend following each general session.
All sessions are considered BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). There are 15 minute breaks between concurrent sessions.
All sessions are in the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport. All Sessions are in Pacific Time (PT).
Joining us for the day? Come directly to Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport
Hyatt Regency LAX, 6225 W Century Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Staying the night?
Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport
Rooms for OLC Collaborate attendees are available at the special attendee rate starting at $169.00+/night.
Book your room
If you are an education technology or distance learning company, this intimate one-day session will give you the chance to collaborate with educators, administrators, and online learning professionals – your potential clients in discussion forums, at lunch and in our small exhibitor showcase.
To learn more, contact our Manager, Sponsorship Sales, Brenda Weiss-Pesta by email, brenda.pesta@onlinelearning-c.org or by phone, 617.716.1417.
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This is the only meeting where we can collaborate with and talk to folks doing the same good work we are in Affordable Learning Solutions.
Laura Sederberg
CSU Chico
The OLC conference was fast-paced and on topic, with the right balance of presentation, break-out sessions, and networking.
Aline Soules
California State University, East Bay