1. From Shared To Open:
The Evolution of Open Education in
Washington State
Open Ed 2011 – Park City, UT
October 25, 2011
Connie Broughton, Director of eLearnng and Open Education
Tom Caswell, Open Education Policy Associate
WA State Board for Community & Technical Colleges

2. In the distant past…
….when COBOL ruled the land….
34 community and technical colleges
banded together to create and share a
single student management system.
Time passes……

3. 1997
• The colleges form a consortium to share
online courses
– 20 completely online courses that
constitute an AA degree
• Built and taught by local faculty
• Courses freely available
– Colleges pooled enrollments in these
courses using the shared student
management system

4. WashingtonOnline (WAOL)
Pooled Enrollments
1. Allow students to access all courses and
services at one institution
2. Allow colleges to offer a wider variety of
courses and to serve small numbers of
students
3. Are flexible and efficient – can scale up or
down quickly to meet demand

5. Total eLearning Enrollments

6. Strategic Technology Plan
• Strategy I:
Create a single, system-wide suite of online
teaching and learning tools that provides all
Washington students with easy access to
“anywhere, anytime” learning.
• http://www.sbctc.edu/general/a_strategictechplan.aspx

7. Shared Tools and Services
• ANGEL Learning
• Tegrity
• Collaborate
• NW eTutoring Consortium
• Professional development
• Open Course Library

8. http://techplan.sbctc.edu
“We will cultivate the culture and
practice of using and contributing to
open educational resources.”

9. Making the Case for “Open”
Internet + Digital Content +
Open License
=
Lower Cost
Greater Access
Greater Quality

10. Textbook Affordability
The high cost of textbooks has
reduced Washington citizens’
access to higher education.
Full-time students spend over $1,000 on
textbooks every year.
College Board Report: Trends in College Pricing (2007)

11. Textbook Affordability

12. Student Advocacy
WA CTC Student Voice Academy
Top issue three years running:
CUTTING TEXTBOOK COSTS

13. Textbook Affordability
SBCTC Example:
English Composition I
50,000+ enrollments / year
x $100 textbook
$5+ Million every year

14. Washington Legislation
• SSHB1025
– Faculty consider the least costly practices in assigning
course materials, such as adopting the least
expensive edition available, adopting free, open
textbooks when available, and working with college
librarians to put together collections of free online web
and library resources, when educational content is
comparable as determined by the faculty…

15. WA Legislation
• SSHB1946 – two big ideas – share
technology and share content.
• (v) Methods and open licensing options for
effectively sharing digital content including
but not limited to: Open courseware, open
textbooks, open journals, and open
learning objects…

16. State Board “Open” Policy
All digital software, educational resources
and knowledge produced through
competitive grants, offered through and/or
managed by the SBCTC, will carry a
Creative Commons Attribution License
(CC BY).

17. Open Education
• Open Course Library Goals
– Design and share 81 high enrollment,
gatekeeper courses
– Improve course completion rates
– Lower textbook costs for students (<$30)
– Provide new resources for faculty to use in their
courses
– Fully engage our colleges in the global open
educational resources discussion.

18. Open Course Library
• Phase 1: 42 courses
– Available October 31, 2011 at
http://opencourselibrary.org
• Phase 2 : 39 courses
– Available Spring 2013

19. Only ONE Thing Matters:
• Efficient use of public funds to
increase student success and access
to quality educational materials.
• Everything else (including all existing
business models) is secondary.

20. Connie Broughton
cbroughton@sbctc.edu
Tom Caswell
tcaswell@sbctc.edu
http://opencourselibrary.org
Slides at: http://slideshare.net/tom4cam