TAS: ZTC Adopter Program

Supporting Faculty and Students

To increase ZTC course adoptions and encourage faculty exploration and innovation in finding new, better, and less costly ways to deliver quality learning materials to students, Cañada College’s Textbook Affordability Subcommittee is providing professional development support and incentives for faculty to convert courses currently using traditional textbooks to use ZTC material. In addition to supporting adoption of ZTC by individual faculty, the award encourages scaling of ZTC adoptions in order to impact a significant number of students. It is noteworthy that:

  • The incentive awards are over and above compensation for base and overload (when applicable) Faculty work assignments
  • All awardees must utilize materials associated with awards in teaching assignments for their course.
  • Faculty may only receive one award per course.
  • The initial determination regarding approval of ZTC Adopters Program applications shall be made by the ZTC Task Force.

To Apply

This award is available to all faculty (full-time and adjuncts) at Cañada College.

  1. Review the information for selected Category (1 or 2).
  2. Complete all sections of the application form, including your signature.

The application is on Formstack, and will automatically be sent to the appropriate personnel for signatures and approvals.

Student with laptop in a classroom

ZTC Early Adopters Program Categories

Category 1: Adoption of ZTC/OER course materials

An adoption project includes the identification of existing ZTC and/or OER materials that would be suitable for the course under consideration; reviewing those materials to ensure they are in line with course outcomes and student success, and have the quality and rigor to maintain the integrity of the course; and selecting and adopting the ZTC or OER Material. The award for Category 1 ZTC/OER Textbook Adoption is $750, with a $500 training award. (If faculty wish to adopt materials for a lecture course and the lab course that is associated with it, that would be considered as 1 project/course.) A maximum of 2 faculty can work on the same adoption project, and the $750 would be split evenly between them both.

Category 2: Revision or Remix of Existing OER Material and/or Creating New Supplement Material

A revision or remix project results in new OER Material. Examples of this would include editing existing chapters, adding new materials from other sources, removing sections not appropriate, bringing together several openly licensed sources, and creating new supplemental materials to augment an adopted OER also results in new OER material. Supplemental materials would include test banks, PowerPoint presentations, videos, images, lectures, lab manuals, and other supplemental materials. The amount eligible for the Revise/Remix Category 2 is $2000 with a $500 training award. If more than one faculty member wishes to work on a revision/remix, then the $2,000 would be split evenly among the interested faculty members; a maximum of 3 faculty could work on the same project.

Category 3: Authoring of New OER Material(s) as primary course resource (e.g., textbook replacement, custom reader)

Create substantially new OER material where it is demonstrated that quality OER resources are not currently available to meet learning objectives. This includes the work involved in writing, developing, creating open textbooks and, if applicable, accompanying supplemental materials such as test banks, PowerPoint presentations, videos, images, lectures, lab manuals, and other supplemental materials. The amount eligible for OER Authoring Category 3 is $3,000 per Faculty for a single course.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

Category 1: Adoption of Existing OER Material

  • Replacement of a traditional textbook with OER. After the project, the costs for printed version of resulting OER materials cannot exceed $40, with a lower cost preferred.
  • Demonstration of collaboration with program chairs and deans as well as other course faculty, and/or other available college support, in developing the proposal.
  • Expertise in the course content.
  • Project narrative and goals clearly defined.
  • Timeline of Project plan and implementation.
  • Assessment plan and methodology clearly defined.
  • Documented level of support for adoption of the new OER material(s) by the proposing Faculty member and those teaching other sections of the course.
  • Commitment to complete a Faculty survey and assist in administering a student survey of the OER material adopted.
  • Analysis of anticipated cost savings to students.
  • High-enrollment course preferred.

Category 2: Revision or Remix of Existing OER Material and/or Creating New Supplement Material

  • Intent to revise/remix existing OER materials and supplements. After the project, the costs for printed version of resulting OER textbook materials cannot exceed $40, with a lower cost preferred. Or,
  • Creation of Supplemental Materials to augment existing OER Content. All materials must be uploaded and made available to students when appropriate.
  • Demonstration of collaboration with program chairs and Associate Deans as well as other course Faculty and/or other available College support in developing the proposal.
  • Expertise in course content.
  • Experience in developing supplemental course materials preferred.
  • Project narrative and goals clearly defined.
  • Timeline of Project plan and implementation.
  • Assessment plan and methodology clearly defined.
  • Plan for updating and keeping course material current.
  • Commitment to complete a Faculty survey and assist in administering a student survey of the OER material adopted.
  • Analysis of anticipated cost savings to students.
  • High-enrollment or General Education course preferred.

Category 3: Authoring of New OER Material(s)

  • Intention to replace a traditional textbook by authoring new OER Content. After the project, the costs for printed version of New OER materials cannot exceed $40, with a lower cost preferred.
  • All created materials created must be uploaded and made available to students when appropriate.
  • Demonstration of collaboration with program chairs and deans, as well as other course faculty and/or other available College support in developing the proposal.
  • Expertise in course content.
  • Experience in developing supplemental course materials preferred.
  • Project narrative and goals clearly defined.
  • Timeline of project plan and implementation.
  • Assessment plan and methodology clearly defined.
  • Plan for updating and keeping course material current.
  • Commitment to complete a faculty survey and assist in administering a student survey of the OER material adopted.
  • Analysis of anticipated cost savings to students.
  • High-enrollment or General Education course preferred.

Participation Requirements

If selected, awardees will commit to the following:

  • Meet with the ZTC/OER Coordinator (Sarah Harmon) and the OER Librarian (Diana Tedone-Goldstone) at the beginning, middle, and end of the project. These meetings ensure finalization of the project plans, sharing of best practices, and addressing of barriers to student success.
  • Complete required training and additional training as necessary.
  • Awardees under Category 2 and Category 3: Revision or Remix of Existing OER Material and/or Creating New Supplement Material and Creation and Development of a New OER Material(s) will keep time logs recording date, time, and activity for work related to the award.
  • Teach the course using ZTC and/or OER in all assigned sections.

The College will provide the awardees with the needed support to help develop and implement their projects through activities such as but not limited to:

  • ZTC/OER discovery and curation
  • Kickoff meeting – Review of awardee requirements, awardee support services, program timeline, and next steps.
  • Face-to-face workshop(s) and training, including the require meetings with the ZTC/OER Coordinator
  • Working with other support faculty and staff as the materials are implemented into the course. This includes our Librarians, Instructional Technologist, and other district support staff as necessary.
  • All work produced will be shared under an open Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license and will be made accessible to the public through Cañada College OER Commons Hub/LibreTexts campus bookshelf/other instance that is connected with Cañada College.

Deliverables and Outcomes for Grant Recipients

  • Course map including SLOs, course modules, and URLs for all ZTC and OER adopted course materials
  • Publication of authored OER(s) with an open (Creative Commons) license in an open, editable format (e.g., Pressbooks, LibreTexts).
  • Storage of the OER in an open repository (e.g., OER Commons or LiveBinder).
  • Created and remixed OER will follow the guidelines in the BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit. If published on LibreTexts or Pressbooks, then the built-in accessibility checks will be utilized.
  • Participation at ZTC and/or OER workshops or seminars during the project.
  • Sharing of experiences with the Cañada College teaching and learning community.

Project Timelines

Fall 2023 Cohort

  • 24 August: Applications open
  • 10 September: Applications due
  • 18 September: Notification of awards
  • Week of 25 September: Check-in 1
  • Week of 9 October: Check-in 2
  • 15 October: Training deadline
  • Week of 30 October: Check-in 3
  • Week of 13 and 20 November: Check-in 4
  • 8 December: Submission deadline to ensure payment on January paycheck

Spring 2024 Cohort

  • 25 January: Applications open
  • 9 February: Applications due
  • 20 February: Notification of awards
  • Week of 26 February: Check-in 1
  • Week of 11 March: Check-in 2
  • 15 March: Training deadline
  • Week of 15 April: Check-in 3
  • Week of 6 May: Check-in 4
  • 10 May: Submission deadline to ensure payment on May paycheck

Summer 2024 Cohort

  • 11 April: Applications open
  • 26 April: Applications due
  • 3 May: Notification of awards
  • Week of 13 May: Check-in 1
  • Week of 6 June: Check-in 2
  • 10 June: Training deadline
  • Week of 24 June: Check-in 3
  • Week of 15 July: Check-in 4
  • 31 July: Submission deadline to ensure payment on May paycheck

CC-BY This information is derivative of LCC and Skyline College; it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.