BCcampus recently awarded a zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) grant to members of the Business Management department of Douglas College. Their successful application was to develop one new open textbook and adapt/update three others. Once this work is complete, Business Management could adopt these texts in a few key courses. This, in turn, will make it possible to offer a Certificate in General Business with a ZTC option—clearly a highly desirable choice for students.

Research tells us that the cost of textbooks and ancillary resources like access codes is a barrier for many students. Therefore, this grant will enable the Business Management department to reduce barriers to costly commercial learning materials by instead using open educational resources (OER) and/or library materials. Doing so will improve accessibility and increase inclusivity.

Developing this ZTC program option would truly be a collaborative effort, involving faculty from Commerce & Business Administration and other areas of the College, as well as faculty from other institutions. This work would allow faculty members to share resources and provide greater opportunities for customizing teaching materials. Moreover, students will be an integral part of this project as they will be hired to assist in the creation of the open textbook materials and incorporate new interactive tools to support student learning.

If you or your colleagues are interested in finding out more about this project, contact Florence Daddey or Rachael Newton, in the Douglas College Business Management department. And, for more open education or low-cost options, please feel free to follow up with Debra Flewelling, our Open Education Librarian.