Presentation given at 2012 Teacher Librarian Summit at NCCE in Seattle, WA

1. A World View of Open Resources
Teacher Librarian Summit
NCCE 2012
Seattle, WA
Tom Caswell
Open Education Policy Associate
State Board for Community & Technical Colleges

2. The Internet changes everything
Anyone can create and
deliver almost anything to
anyone for almost no cost.
Internet + Digital
Resources +
Open License

3. September 2007
Cape Town Open Education
Declaration
“…we have an opportunity to dramatically improve
the lives of hundreds of millions of people around
the world through freely available, high-quality,
locally relevant educational and learning
opportunities.”

4. Where do we start?

5. Strategic Technology Plan
 Strategy I:
Create a single, system-wide suite of online
teaching and learning tools that provides all
Washington students with easy access to
“anywhere, anytime” learning.
 http://www.sbctc.edu/general/a_strategictechplan.aspx

6. June 2010
SBCTC Open Policy
All digital software, educational resources and
knowledge produced through competitive
grants, offered through and/or managed by the
SBCTC, will carry a Creative Commons
Attribution License.
 http://www.sbctc.edu/general/admin/Tab_9_Open_
Licensing_Policy.pdf

7. Textbook Affordability
English Composition I
50,000+ enrollments / year
x $100 textbook
$5+ Million every year

8. Textbook Affordability

9. Watch. Practice.
Learn almost anything for free.

12. The Open Course Library
Funded: $1.2 million
 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
 Washington State Legislature

13.  Goals of the Open Course Library
 Design and share 81 high enrollment, gatekeeper courses
 Improve course completion rates
 Lower textbook costs for students (<$30)
 Provide new resources for faculty to use in their courses
 Fully engage our colleges in the global open educational
resources discussion.

14. Potential Savings
 81 courses = 411,133 enrollments / year
 Textbook savings up to $41M+ in / year
 How much could you be saving your students?
 Completion rates may also increase when all students
can afford course materials
(See Student PIRGs 2011 report: “High Prices Prevent College
Students from Buying Assigned Textbooks”)

15. Open Course Library
 Phase 1: 42 courses
 http://opencourselibrary.org
 http://saylor.org
 Phase 2 : 39 courses
 Available Spring 2013

16. The first 42 courses were
released October 31, 2011
Over 80 media mentions worldwide
Over 25,000 visits from 125 countries to
http://opencourselibrary.org

17. Why?
In the first year, students will save
$1.1 million in textbook costs
That’s more than we spent to develop the
courses…

18. Finding Open Resources

19. Where can I search specifically for K-12
Open Educational Resources?
• ck12.org
• oercommons.org/oer
• curriki.org
Explore resources in a particular grade
or subject? Post questions, comments,
or links to the wiki.

20. Questions?
Tom Caswell
caswell.tom@gmail.com