First Group of Open Education Resources Available

The following story is shared on behalf of North Central State University.

The partners of the Ohio Open Ed Collaborative are proud to announce that the first grouping of online resources are already available for student use at colleges and universities throughout Ohio. 

Funded by a $1.3 million Innovation Grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, and led by North Central State College, the partners have been working for more than a year to identify, define and prepare Online Education resources that can be accessed by students who enroll in 22 college courses.

Teams of administrators and faculty from partner institutions have now completed materials for the first four of these courses:

  • American Government
  • First Level Writing
  • Second Level Writing
  • Statistics

Materials for the last three courses in the first grouping should be available in spring of 2019:

  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Linear Algebra

The first goal of this work was to increase access to, and the affordability of, higher education by providing savings to students who will no longer need to purchase textbooks. The collaborative hopes to reduce the cost of textbooks by up to 70% in high enrollment courses by the end of the project. Within three years, it is estimated that Ohio students could save four times the investment in this grant effort, nearly $5 million by accessing available coursework and texts online.

Many of the courses are part of the Ohio Transfer Module or are TAG (Transfer Assurance Guides). These general education courses are some of the first courses students complete in pursuit of an Associate or Bachelor’s degree. TAG courses can be transferred seamlessly between the colleges and universities in the Ohio public system.

To date, 62 faculty members and librarians from 27 different Ohio colleges and universities, public and private, have participated in the effort to lower costs for students in Ohio.

Additional project objectives include:

  • Enhance opportunities for innovation.
  • Support State of Ohio educational attainment goals of having 65% of adults with a post-secondary credential by 2025.
  • Address the Ohio Task Force on Affordability and Efficiency report.

Next Steps

Groups of faculty and higher education leaders from across Ohio are working to identify and organize online resources for the next group of courses. After that, third group of courses will be explored, bringing the total to 22 courses. The team is hoping to have materials for all 22 courses available by the end of the 2019-2020 school year.

Partner Institutions

Central Ohio Technical College
Clark State Community College
Columbus State Community College
Edison State Community College
Hocking College
Lakeland Community College
Lorain County Community College
Marion Technical College
North Central State College
Northwest State Community College
Ohio Dominican University
Rhodes State College
Sinclair Community College
Southern State Community College
Stark State College
Terra State Community College
The Ohio State University
Washington State Community College

For more information, contact:
Keith Stoner
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
North Central State College
419-755-4810 or email kstoner@ncstatecollege.edu