Last November I sent in a new set of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) numbers for Camosun’s Strategic Plan metrics, Goal 2: “Deliver outstanding flexible learning opportunities to support students’ evolving educational needs.” Everyone is doing amazing work, and the number of reported ZTC courses at the college went from approximately 150 courses in 2023 to 436 in 2024.
The purpose of this next series of Open Education at Camosun stories is to showcase some of the courses and course sections at Camosun that are providing cost-free course resources for students. I will be talking to the various course instructors and their chairs over the next while to ensure that the information I provide here is accurate and supportive, so the stories will likely be spread out over the next several months. So, in anticipation of more, here is what I can tell you now about how many courses in our various Schools are Zero Textbook Cost.
Access: 92
Arts and Science: 161
Health and Human Services: 17
School of Business: 36
Centre for Sport Exercise Education: 49
Trades and Tech: 81
ZTC Story #1: Social Sciences
For this first story of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses (by department or program) at Camosun College, I thought I would celebrate Social Sciences. This department runs classes in at least five different disciplines and offers several courses that are zero textbook cost, some of which are also using Open Textbooks.
NOTES: “All required readings provided through D2L” means that the course D2L site includes links to external resources on the Internet, links to library electronic resources, course notes, and Open Educational Resources (OER) linked to or pulled into the course site. I also want to thank the Social Sciences Chair, Katie Waterhouse, and all faculty in her department for taking the time to send me this information.
Now, here is a list of Social Science ZTC courses from Fall 2024:
ANTH104: Introduction to Anthropology – all required readings provided through D2L
ANTH204: The Anthropology of Food – all required readings provided through D2L
ANTH260: Human Evolution and Diversity – all required lab readings provided through D2L, also using an Open Textbook: Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology (https://explorations.americananthro.org/)
ANTH280: The Anthropology of Death – all required readings provided through D2L
GEOG100: Environment and Sustainability – all required readings provided through D2L
GEOG105: Geography of B.C. – all required readings provided through D2L
GEOG111: Natural Hazards – all required readings provided through D2L
GSWS110: Women, Knowledge, Sex, & Power– all required readings provided through D2L, also using an Open Textbook: Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies (http://openbooks.library.umass.edu/introwgss/)
GSWS204: Gender and Globalization – all required readings provided through D2L
SOC112: Racialization and Ethnicity – all required readings provided through D2L
SOC162 – all required readings provided through D2L
In addition, there are some courses in Anthropology that are Low Textbook Cost, including:
Anth 110: Gender Across Cultures – uses one book costing less than $30, also using an Open Textbook: Gendered lives: Global issues. (https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/genderedlives/)
Anth 290: Science of Identity – uses one book under $30, which is also available in the Camosun Library.
I want to end this post with a note that I understand not every course at the college can move to ZTC as there are many paid textbooks that support students meeting course outcomes. But if there are opportunities to save students money and still meet learning outcomes, I and others in CETL and the Library are available for discussions with faculty who may want to learn more about Open Textbooks in their discipline or about ZTC options for their subject areas.
I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with our next ZTC story.