Update the Paper Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values

Whereas, Resolution 11.01 F12 Pursue Statewide Open Educational Resources for Student Success[1] supported Academic Senate for California Community Colleges participation in “the convening of appropriate stakeholders, including faculty from our intersegmental partners for implementation of SB 1052 and 1053 (Steinberg, 2012), to develop appropriate rules and guidelines for accessing Open Educational Resources materials for faculty in a broad range of formats that encourage their wide-spread availability for adoption and use”;

Whereas, The California Digital Open Source Library (CDOSL) is being designed so faculty can easily find, adopt, utilize, and modify OER course materials for little or no cost, and the California Open Online Library for Education[2] is the first library service of the CDOSL;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has two papers on affordable options for textbooks, Textbook Pricing Policies and Student Access (1997) and Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values (2005), which do not reflect the current technological options or the work that has been done by the California Open Education Resources Council in response to SB 1052 and 1053 (Steinberg, 2012); and

Whereas, While the availability of open education resources through the California Digital Open Source Library (CDOSL) provides faculty with additional textbook options for their classes, the review and consideration of course textbooks is both a faculty professional duty and a matter of academic freedom that is crucial for ensuring the appropriate levels of academic rigor for their courses;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges update the paper Textbook Issues: Economic Pressures and Academic Values (2005) to include current technological options and the work that has been done by the California Open Education Resources Council and bring it to the body for approval at the Spring 2016 Plenary Session; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge remind faculty of the availability of open educational resources, and that as part of their textbook evaluation processes, suggest the review and consideration to review and consider the adoption of appropriate open educational resources textbooks while adhering to the highest professional standards and ensuring appropriate levels of academic rigor for their courses.

MSC