Category: Open Education

Zero Textbook Cost Courses at Camosun Story #7: Communications

For this seventh story of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses at Camosun, I am showcasing Communication department programs.

The Communication department offers two programs: Digital Production, Writing, and Design (DPWD), and Comics & Graphic Novels (COGR). Each of these programs offers courses that are ZTC, and in fact 19 of 22 courses offered by Communications are ZTC, with readings and resources typically available online or through D2L.

According to the main Communications website, “Communication studies provide a fundamental understanding of why we communicate and how to understand each other. This is vital in any situation, from interpersonal relationships in a variety of settings (social, family, academic, and the workplace), to understanding intercultural communication and persuasive messaging.” In addition to the two programs, students can also take individual courses for university transfer or as electives for other Camosun programs.

And now, here the ZTC courses in Communications:
Digital Production, Writing, and Design Certificate: “In the Digital Production, Writing and Design program students use digital media tools to create products to be used in a variety of ways, such as advertising and marketing materials and to tell stories using media tools.”

  • CMNS 105: Communication and Technology
  • CMNS 160: Digital Journalism
  • CMNS 165: Persuasive Writing for the Web
  • DIME 115: Digital Production 1
  • DIME 116: Digital Production 2
  • DIME 125: Graphic Communication 1
  • DIME 126: Graphic Communication 2
  • DIME 145: Applied Digital Photography

Comic & Graphic Novels Certificate: “The Comic & Graphic Novels program teaches visual storytelling, a language composed of interconnected words and pictures. With the broad and diverse skill-set students will acquire, they can create comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and comic strips in any genre, as well as storyboards for gaming, film, video, and animation!”

  • CMNS 120: Culture of Visual Storytelling
  • CNMS 140: Wordcraft for Visual Stories
  • VIST 110: Storytelling Layout
  • VIST 111: Character Design
  • VIST 122: Structural Drawing 1
  • VIST 123: Perspective Drasing
  • VIST 125: Structural Drawing 2
  • VIST 130: Technique 1: Traditional Tools
  • VIST 131: Technique 2: Digital Tools
  • VIST 151: Comics Publishing & Promotion

Additional ZTC course in Communications:

  • CMNS 150: Introduction to Digital Media

I want to thank Lois Fernyhough, chair of the Communications department, and all the faculty in her area for taking the time to provide me with this information.

Zero Textbook Cost Courses at Camosun Story #6: Economics

For this sixth story of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at Camosun, I am showcasing the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses in the Economics, Quantitative Methods, and University Transfer Business department.

In addition to offering service courses taken by students from across the college, this department runs an Associate of Arts Degree in Economics, which has a Co-operative education option. According to the website, “this two-year, 20-course program gives students a head start in economics, statistics, science and English, as well as a choice of electives. Graduates can choose to continue your studies, or you could find employment in academia, in a bank, within government, business, international development or research organizations.”

Several courses offered by the Economics, Quantitative Methods, and University Transfer Business department are Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) with some of them using open textbooks.

  • ECON 103: Principles of Microeconomics (three sections using open textbooks)
  • ECON 104: Principles of Macroeconomics (two sections using open textbooks)
  • ECON 315: The Economics of Sport (no assigned textbook – course materials available in D2L)
  • BUS 230: Business Statistics (three sections using open textbooks)
  • BUS 231: Quantitative Methods (optional textbook only)

Some of the additional required and elective courses for the degree program also have ZTC sections, for example:

  • MATH 108: Applied Calculus
  • STAT 218: Introduction to Probability and Statistics
  • ENGL 151: Academic Writing Strategies
  • ENGL 161: Literary Genres

And finally, here is a list of the open textbooks being used by faculty in the Economics, Quantitative Methods, and University Transfer Business department.

ECON 103

ECON 104

BUS 230

I want to thank Ocean Lu, chair of the Economics, Quantitative Methods, and University Transfer Business department, and all the faculty in her area for taking the time to provide me with this information.

Zero Textbook Cost Courses at Camosun Story #5: Civil Engineering

For this fifth story of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at Camosun, I am showcasing the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses for the Civil Engineering programs.

The Civil Engineering department offers three programs: Civil Engineering Access (Certificate), Civil Engineering Technology (Diploma), and Civil Engineering Bridge to UBC or UVic. I am especially excited to see so many ZTC courses in these programs considering that one of the important aspects of Civil Engineering is sustainability.

The Access Certificate was designed to prepare students for the Civil Engineering Technology Diploma program. In this program, students take upgrading math, physics, and English courses, learning skills courses, as well as courses in technical drawing, graphics, and computing. Note that some upgrading math, physics, and English courses are ZTC depending on the instructor.

The Bridge programs “are unique and recognized across Canada as an excellent transition from a technology diploma to an Engineering degree (UVic) or Applied Science degree (UBC). Students study advanced topics that aren’t typically found in technology programs.”

And finally, Civil Engineering Technology, where students learn to “plan, design, and maintain structures and public works, while respecting and responding to the natural environment. For example, Civil engineering technologists assist engineers in protecting human lives at the most basic level: water that doesn’t carry disease, seismic upgrading, ensuring homes don’t flood, and building roads that are safe to drive on.”
Here are the courses in Civil Engineering that are Zero Textbook Cost.

  • CIVE131: Graphical Communication 1
  • CIVE132: Graphical Communication 2
  • CIVE141: Surveying 1
  • CIVE142: Surveying 2
  • CIVE152: Transportation Engineering
  • CIVE181: Civil Sustainability Project
  • CIVE210: Sustainability in Civil Engineering
  • CIVE251: Asset Management
  • CIVE255: Municipal Design
  • CIVE261: Soils and Materials 1
  • CIVE262: Soils and Materials 2
  • CIVE276: Hydrology
  • CIVE278: Water and Waste Management
  • CIVE282: Managing Construction Projects
  • CIVE289: Civil Capstone Project
  • ENGR166: Geology for Engineers

I want to thank Robin Ley, chair of the Civil Engineering department, and all the faculty in her area for taking the time to provide me with this information.

Zero Texbook Cost Courses at Camosun Story #4: Athletic & Exercise Therapy Bachelor’s Degree Program

For this fourth story of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at Camosun, I am showcasing the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses for the four-year Athletic & Exercise Therapy Bachelor’s Degree program.

The Bachelor of Athletic and Exercise Therapy (BAET) is a comprehensive applied degree program focused on preventing, assessing, treating, and managing orthopaedic injuries and health related conditions. The BAET program equips students with advanced knowledge and skills in athletic and exercise therapy, exercise science, and high-performance sport, ensuring graduates are ready to contribute to the field of health and wellness in a variety of settings.  In this applied program, students will integrate theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills through classroom and laboratory activities in conjunction with practical development opportunities in various clinical and field settings.  Students apply foundational knowledge to the assessment and treatment of a variety of musculoskeletal conditions and injuries. Using evidence-informed decisions students design and implement conditioning and rehabilitation programs to aid individuals in their return to sport, work, and activities of daily living. Students learn to educate and counsel clients on physical, psychological, and emotional well-being, promoting a holistic approach to health and wellness. Applied learning of sports-related emergency care, physical fitness assessment and optimization, and business acumen, prepares graduates to operate a successful practice and work with a diverse population.  The BAET program is accredited by the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association (CATA). Graduates must successfully complete the CATA National Certification Examination to be eligible for designation as a Certified Athletic Therapist.

ZTC for the Bachelor of Athletic and Exercise Therapy means that the courses either provide all course materials for no cost, have recommended textbooks only, or use textbooks already purchased for another required course. With that in mind, the courses in this program which are currently ZTC are:

  • AET201: Placement 1
  • AET202: Placement 2
  • AET261: Emergency Conditions 2
  • AET273: Field Prevention/Injury Care 2
  • AET301: Placement 3
  • AET302: Placement 4
  • AET320: Human Motor Control
  • AET341: Anatomy of the Upper Extremity
  • AET401: Placement 5
  • AET402: Placement 6
  • AET411: Independent Research Project
  • AET420: Business Management for Therapists
  • AET430: Concepts of Manual Therapy
  • AET440: Anatomy of the Spine
  • AET450: Ergonomics
  • AET470: Pharmacology and Exercise
  • AET481: Clinical 3 Spine

In addition, some of the other required courses for this program (for example, students also have to take English 151, Kinesiology 135, 210, 240, Health 110, and a few other non-AET courses), may also be ZTC, depending on who is teaching those courses.

I want to thank Isabel Grondin, chair of the Athletic and Exercise Therapy department, and all the faculty in her area for taking the time to provide me with this information.

Textbooks and Tariffs: A case for Open Educational Resources and going Zero Textbook Cost – Accept the Challenge!!

If there was ever a time to invest in adopting/adapting Open Educational Resources (OER) and going Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC), it is now. According to MĂ©lanie Brunet in the University of Ottawa Library OER Program Evaluation Report, “It is estimated that textbooks prices in North America have increased by 150% since January 2000, and several surveys report that more than 50% of students do not purchase required textbooks during their studies due to cost (Florida Virtual Campus, 2022; Inclusive Access & SPARC, 2022; Stephens et al., 2024; Versluis et al., 2017; Vitez & Nagle, 2021). They find other ways to access course materials, sometimes dubiously or even illegally, or they go without altogether, risking their academic success.” And now, the increased threat of tariffs between Canada and the United States is creating fear that the price of books, including textbooks, will continue to rise dramatically, making higher education even less affordable for our students.

I discussed this issue with a group of Open Education supporters during a recent BC Open Education Community meeting, and here is what some of our colleagues at other BC and Canadian post-secondary institutions had to say:

From Columbia College: “Just last week I presented a department with the new price of their main textbook with the tariffs included. There’s a new edition of their textbook coming out this summer, so there are no used copies for students to purchase. That department is now planning to spend the summer working as a group on creating course packs and homework banks to make sure students actually have access to their learning materials. It was really a shock for them to hear how much more it would cost, and they are clear that students just will forgo having that book. The book is Successful College Writing, with the 9th edition coming out for the fall semester, and the list price is $147.99 CAD. We get a discount which works out to almost the same as our freight cost, so we are calculating the 25% on the list price and letting the freight and discount cancel each other out. That comes to $184.98. It has been our practice to add 10-15% to help cover overhead, effectively splitting our discount with our students, which would be $203-212.”

From Vancouver Community College: “Most commercial textbooks are printed in the U.S., which is a major problem for affordability due to the tariffs on goods imported into Canada from the U.S. This will increase the cost of textbooks for students, worsening the unaffordability crisis. I was asked to speak to institutional leadership about textbook affordability and the advantages of OER.”

From Vancouver Island University: “We are planning to host a panel discussion in May with the bookstore and Copyright & Open Licensing Librarian to talk about the opportunities for adopting OER in face of the tariffs.”

From Sask Polytechnic: “Our first-year business programs are converting to OER, due to strategic targeting [right time with tariffs looming.] We approached the business department at the right time with the right elevator pitch and got them to buy in.”

From me: “Remember that the cost of virtually everything (including food, rent, other course-related supplies) will be going up due to tariffs, not just the cost of textbooks. Because students will struggle even more with affordability than usual, they will need OER more than ever!”

And here is a formal statement from the University of Northern BC: “As you may know, the Government of Canada has issued a Notice of Intent to Impose Countermeasures in Response to US Tariffs on Canadian Goods. The 25% retaliatory tariff will take effect April 2nd, 2025, and this will include print books/textbooks. Unfortunately, even Canadian material is often printed and distributed by the US. The tariff will not only impact the UNBC Library’s print book collection but will also increase the cost of textbooks for students. To help our students with these increased costs to their education, we recommend that faculty consider utilizing open educational resources, open textbooks, and/or to work with the UNBC Library to obtain electronic copies (if available). The CTLT and Library can help you navigate and recommend resources for your courses that will keep costs lower for students.”

I would like to challenge faculty members and program teams to examine the price of the textbooks assigned for their courses, compare costs today with last year, and consider what would happen to those costs if 25% tariffs were applied to these books. If you assign only an e-text, that may escape the price hikes of tariffs but remember that students generally have only limited access to those books, and they are often lacking accessibility features required by many students.

Additional information about 2025 tariffs and their potential impact on the price of books

Zero Textbook Cost Courses at Camosun Story #3: Community, Family, and Child Studies (CFCS)

In this third story of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at Camosun, I take a look at the Community, Family, and Child Studies (CFCS) department, which offers five diploma and certificate programs along with their health university transfer courses:

The CFCS diploma program itself, which “prepares [students] to promote, support and strengthen the well-being of individuals and families [and] where graduates work as caring, ethical professionals who adapt to meet current and emergent community needs,” already offers nine ZTC courses and is committed to eliminating costly course materials for more of its courses in the future. The courses in the CFCS diploma program which are currently ZTC are:

  • CFCS110: Foundations for Practice
  • CFCS114: Professional Practice 1
  • CFCS140: Introduction to Community Resources & Supports
  • CFCS141: Service Learning
  • CFCS210: Diversity Across the Lifespan
  • CFCS214: Professional Practice 2
  • CFCS230: Support Strategies 1
  • CFCS240: Practicum 1
  • CFCS241: Practicum 2

The EACS program, which prepares students “to support individuals with acquired and/or developmental disabilities both ethically and professionally in the context of home, school, work, and community settings,” offers five ZTC courses:

  • CSEA111: Practicum 1
  • CSEA112: Practicum 2
  • CSEA115: Current Practice Issues
  • CSEA175: Ethical/Professional Practice
  • EDUC 116: Health and Disability

Finally, eight other courses in the CFCS department are currently flagged as ZTC:

  • In the ELC program, ELC160: Community Observations, ELC212: Guiding Relationships 2, ELC240: Practicum 2, ELC241: Infant/Toddler Practice, and ELC242: Inclusive Practice
  • In the IMHA program, IMHA536: Professionalism in Practice and IMHA540: Practicum
  • In the MHA program, MHA140: Practicum
  • And HLTH113: Creativity and Health

I would be remiss if I did not include links to a few stories about some of the amazing faculty in these programs:

  • Danielle from ELC who spoke about an open pedagogy project her students worked on,
  • Asha from EACS (interviewed during COVID), who has been working to move more of her courses to ZTC,
  • Robin from CFCS (interviewed during COVID) who was also a colleague of mine in CETL for two years,
  • Kristin from MHA, who is currently working on a faculty workshop related to the many challenges we (faculty and student) are currently facing in our classrooms,
  • Jessica (interviewed during COVID) from ELC who is always excited to try new things to better support her students, and
  • Michelle, who is currently the department’s chair, and is always interested in exploring new ways to offer courses and programs.

I want to thank Michelle Jaworsky, chair of the CFCS department, and all the faculty in her area for taking the time to provide me with this information.

Camosun College 3rd Annual Open Education/ZTC Recognition Awards

In times of uncertainty and change, it is vital for our well-being to find support in and gratefulness for our community and to celebrate the amazing work people around us continue to do despite challenging circumstances. So now, I would like to take a moment to recognize this year’s Open Education and ZTC Recognition Award nominees: people from around the college who have made profound contributions to open education at Camosun College and demonstrated an impact on student learning and student costs by utilizing, designing, or adapting open resources in their instruction and/or moving their courses to ZTC.

See our special Open Education News … and stuff for more information!

Access

Crystal Lomas (course developer) and Puja Gupta (project initiator, manager, and contributor), Math Community Learning Partnerships; Project: Math 097 (self-paced)

The self-paced version of the Math 097 course is an alternate to Math 12 that gives students an accessible and self-paced pathway to completing math prerequisites. Their goal was to remove one more financial obstacle for students, the purchase of textbooks, by integrating an Open Textbook and the open homework platform MyOpenMath, offering a totally ZTC experience

Arts and Science

Thomas Nienhuis, English; Project: English 151 Open Textbook creation and move to ZTC

Thomas Nienhuis teaches composition and technical writing courses and last winter decided to develop a supplementary textbook for his English 151 course. He created the book to enhance and contextualize the course grammar content, to give students something to refer to, which did not cost $130. He has also created H5P interactive practice activities for students to test their understanding of the content within the context of the text.

Larry Lee, Chemistry; Project: Chemistry 120 – moved his section of this course to an Open Textbook for Winter 2025

Chemistry 120 is a University Transfer course, and to reduce costs to students, Larry adopted an Open Textbook from OpenStax “Chemistry, 2nd edition”, by John McMurray, which also contains problem sets that can be set up in the D2L Quiz tool. Larry says “I like to give special thank-you to CETL for the workshops and assistance with webpage design as these are extremely helpful in transitioning to no cost textbooks.   This has always been the goal to achieve Universal design to enhance student learning and delivering success.”

Tara Tudor and Nicole Kilburn, Social Sciences; Project: Making Anthropology 104 ZTC

Camosun Anthropology faculty members have been working with Open Educational Resources and moving to ZTC for several years. Their latest project, spearheaded by Tara Tudor and Nicole Kilburn, was to move Anthropology 104, Introduction to Anthropology, to ZTC by creating and curating course materials and providing them to students through D2L.

HHS

Stephanie Won and Shannon Keyser, Bachelor of Science Nursing; Project: Creation and development of the Practical Nursing bridge to Bachelor of Science Nursing Program utilizing Open Educational Resources

We recognize Shannon Keyser and Stephanie Won for their hard work and leadership bringing open educational resources to the “Practical Nurse to Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing Bridge” program. Their tremendous effort and hard work have resulted in courses that use open resources to learn assessments rather than relying on historic practices of printed textbooks. They truly are pathfinders in the nursing department’s pivot towards using more of these resources and courses in the “Nursing, Baccalaureate of Science” program are building upon the work they started.

Kendal Adam, Sonography; Project: HLSC 264 – Interprofessional Practices

Kendal has adopted Open Educational Resources (OER) created by Lynelle Yutani and taken over the HLSC 264 course WordPress site. Her students created simulation/learning tools using H5P, engaging with students through Open Pedagogy projects that they will be able to leverage later when in the workforce to create teaching and learning materials themselves. Kendal as also been quietly making some of her other courses Zero Textbook Cost by moving from traditional textbooks to a combination of OER, library resources, digital modules, etc.

Learning Services

Aditi Gupta and Ying Liu (UVic Libraries), Robbyn Lanning (Library), and Natasha Parrish (CETL); Project: The open-access document and website: Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Pedagogy Toolkit.

UVic Librarians Aditi Gupta, and Ying Liu, and Camosun Learning Services colleagues Robbyn Lanning, and Natasha Parrish have collaborated on the Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Pedagogy Toolkit, an open access guidebook and website created to address structural inequalities and support diverse student populations. The toolkit includes strategies for integrating culturally responsive teaching, inclusive pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and decolonizing teaching practices. It offers practical scenarios to help librarians promote anti-racist practices, enhance cultural fluency, and foster a sense of belonging for diverse students.

The Open Education/ZTC Advocacy Team

Finally, we recognize the Camosun College Open Education/Zero Textbook Cost Advocacy Team which brings together Open Education champions from across the institution to provide advice and advocacy for Open Education at the college. The team is:

  • Adam Maurer, Bookstore
  • Asha Rao, Community, Family, and Child Studies
  • Dean Schimpf, Academic Upgrading
  • Emily Schudel (team facilitator), Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
  • Erin Howard, Learning Services
  • Gwenda Bryan, Library
  • Haydn Lloyd, Copyright
  • Katie Waterhouse, Social Sciences
  • Michel Turcotte, Student Society
  • Michelle Clement, Marketing
  • Puja Gupta, Community Learning Partnerships
  • Robin Fast, Community, Family, and Child Studies
  • Will Meredith, Library
  • Rebekah Prette, Library
  • Rob Thompson, Ombudsperson
  • Young Joo, Library

If you would like to join our Advocacy Team, email Emily Schudel!

Open Education Week 2025

Open Education Week is March 3-7, and I wanted to share with you some virtual events happening around Canada and the world. And you can find out more about our Open Education/ZTC Recognition award recipients on this previous post.

What’s happening

For a list of events from around the world, visit OE Global’s Open Education Week site. I recommend going to their calendar and refining the search by Event Category or Country.

Virtual Events from Institutions around Canada

Some Virtual Session Recommendations from Me (Emily)

CHALLENGE: For Open Ed Week I challenge you to reach out to me, or to your subject matter librarian, or to any of your colleagues who are already doing this work, to find out more about how you can adopt, adapt, or create OER or go Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC). Replacing expensive course materials with Zero cost materials is a great SD project. And we want to recognize and celebrate your work, but we can’t do that if we don’t know about it.

Zero Textbook Cost Courses at Camosun Story #2: Community Learning Partnerships

In this second story of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at Camosun College, I take a look at Community Learning Partnerships (CLP) “a department of the School of Access, that takes education to community-based sites to make it easier to begin or return to learning. Students learn in a comfortable environment with other adults who share similar backgrounds and get help from friendly and compassionate Camosun instructors and staff. CLP can be a starting point in getting ready to transfer to on-campus college programs.” Current CLP sites include Victoria Native Friendship Centre, W̱SÁNEĆ College, Bridges for Women, Island Community Mental Health, and Malahat Nation.

CLP offers upgrading courses in Math and English, in-person, blended, and online asynchronous. There is a long history of creating ZTC courses in CLP, especially in the math courses through the adaptation of open texts and use of the open homework platform, MyOpenMath to create problem sets that can be shared with faculty across the department. MyOpenMath is “an online course management and assessment system for mathematics and other quantitative fields. It is also a collaborative community of users. Questions and pre-built courses are all created by faculty in the user community and shared with others in the spirit of openness. Experienced users provide peer-to-peer support through discussion forums.”

Because CLP programs are tuition free for domestic students, and because faculty in CLP are dedicated to ensuring that their courses are as accessible as possible, moving them to ZTC makes a lot of sense. But like all faculty at Camosun, faculty in CLP face challenges doing this work, and one of the biggest challenges is time. Time to fine alternate zero-cost resources to a paid textbook and/or to adopt/adapt/create Open Educational Resources (OER) for their courses. And this is especially true for term faculty who do not have scheduled development time, or any development time beyond keeping up with teaching the courses they are hired to teach. While we currently don’t have options for funding or release for faculty doing this work, CETL and the library do provide some support to help faculty find resources and around how to adopt and adapt them, and BCcampus is also a great source for support around course materials and platforms for open delivery.

I want to thank the CLP Chair, Doug Harrison, and all faculty in his department for taking the time to send me this information. Now, here is a list of CLP ZTC courses from Fall 2024:

  • MATH 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026 (4+ sections of each)
  • MATH 037, 038, 039, 072, 073 (at least 1 section of each)
  • MATH 052, 053, 057, 075 (3+ sections of each – these sections also use MyOpenMath)
  • ENGL050 (6+ sections)

In addition, several course sections (including courses other than those listed earlier) are using Open Textbooks, including adaptations of open textbooks by Puja Gupta who teaches Math 052, 053, 072, 073, 075

I will be back again on a few weeks with our next ZTC at Camosun Story!

Zero Textbook Cost Courses at Camosun Story #1: Social Sciences

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.