Presented at OpenEd 2012 in Vancouver 18 October 2012 Beck Pitt, Tim Coughlan and Patrick McAndrew CC-BY

1. Scaling up a Bridge to Success!
Helping US Community Colleges use OER
Diverse Audiences and Unexpected
Outcomes in Cross-Institutional OER
Practice
Patrick McAndrew, Tim Coughlan and Beck Pitt
http://b2s.aacc.edu/

2. Overview and Aims
• What is the project and what was involved?
• Research overview: what we did… and
how we did it!
• Piloting the content
• Beyond Content…
• Conclusion and next steps
• Resources and Bibliography

3. How? What? Who?
Next Generation
Learning Challenges
The project aimed to offer free, open
educational resources to prepare adults to
successfully and confidently transition to a
college environment in the US, to pursue
advanced qualifications, or to be successful
in their chosen careers…

4. Use of B2S materials to date

5. Research Overview: What we did… and how we did it!
Product Design/Adaptation
Process
Contexts of Use
Student and Institutional
Experience
Student Outcomes
Project Impact

6. From theory to practice… Piloting the content
Who piloted the content? As at August 2012
• A total of eleven college and non-college institutions (October
2011 – August 2012).
• A total of 17 out of 26 completed pilots had been conducted with
cohorts of low-income students. A further 16 pilots were ongoing
at this date (total = 42 distinct pilots).
• Bridge to Success (B2S) exceeded its unique user and pilot
participant targets: 1822 current/completed participants and, by
September 2012, over 6,000 unique users of B2S materials.

7. Piloting the Content: Colleges and data collection challenges
• Nine colleges piloted Bridge to Success materials during the
project’s pilot phase (October 2011 – August 2012).
As at August 2012
• Of the completed pilots that have submitted 100% of their data,
and as reported by instructors, 88% of students who completed B2S
materials persisted to next semester.
• 98% of these students mastered the subject matter and 96%
mastered deeper learning.

8. Case Study One: Diverse audiences
International Workforce Development Agency: supported people across Maryland
for over 90 years.
This pilot utilised specific units of the B2S maths course until end of August 2012 to
enable students to complete a new requirement math pre-test for a
Weatherization program.
Students who originally failed the math entrance exam, 80% passed after working
with B2S resources for a 1-3 week period.
Currently B2S courses are being translated into Spanish via a Massive Open Online
Course (MOOC) on Open Translation Tools and practices lead by the OU (UK)
Department of Languages. Massive potential for use with Hispanic speaking
populations both in the US and elsewhere.

9. Case Study Two: Diverse Audiences
Family Support Centre in residential area where:
“85% of families are headed by a single female
parent;
90% have not completed high school and do not have
a GED;
95% are unemployed, underemployed or receive
welfare or other social services.”
(Source: Case Study Two Family Support Centre leaflet 2012)
Piloting both B2S courses within context of specific
GED/Pre-GED classes.
“Challenges that are unique to our setting and Time
population”
Lack of access to
Other commitments: parenting computers

10. Beyond Content…
Math & Learning/Personal
Development: Content of B2S
courses relevant to all.
Access to OER remains a critical
issue: relation between low
income and access to internet at
home.
Accessibility and mobile
devices: making materials
multi-format, e.g. ePubs,
printable versions, etc.

11. Conclusion and Next Steps…
What next for Bridge to Success?
•More research – with Hewlett funded OER Research Hub.
•Refined content – based on analysis and feedback.
•Link with other material - Overcoming Math Anxiety webshop.
•Challenges – soft accreditation/badge ready.
•More use – integrated into college curriculum and beyond.
•Content transfer – Saylor Foundation/DVD for prisons.
•Supporting the under-served.

12. THANK YOU!
Tim Coughlan Tim.Coughlan@nottingham.ac.uk
@t1mc
Patrick McAndrew Patrick.McAndrew@open.ac.uk
@openpad
Beck Pitt Beck.Pitt@open.ac.uk
@BeckPitt

13. Resources and what to do next
• Watch a review of Bridge to Success functionality and the
courses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pHyYO5d01I
• Visit the Bridge to Success website: http://b2s.aacc.edu/
• Find out more about the Open Educational Resources at the
Open University and how our research can help you!
http://www8.open.ac.uk/about/open-educational-resources/

14. Bibliography
• Bailey & Cho Issue Brief: Developmental Education in Community
Colleges prepared for The White House Summit on Community
Colleges (October 2010)
• Bridge to Success Report One: Adaptation, Integration and
Engagement
• Case Study Two Family Support Centre Leaflet 2012
• Kaminski, K. Seel, P. & Cullen K. Technology Literate Students?
Results from a Survey (2003, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, No 3)