An initiative to help Schoolcraft College students save money while maintaining the high academic standards required to fulfill the Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) has been recognized with an international award.
Schoolcraft College’s Distance Learning team, in collaboration with numerous faculty members, won the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Optimizing Student Experience. This award honors those institutions whose educational and administrative innovations have markedly improved the total learner experience.
The Catalyst Awards are in their 15th year and recognize and honor innovation and excellence in the Blackboard global community of practice. Winners are selected by a cross-functional team of Blackboard experts. Also winning in this category were the College of Western Idaho and the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Schoolcraft College’s award was based on a Distance Learning initiative with the goal simply to improve the student experience at the college by leveraging Open Educational Resources (OER) as a way to positively impact students. This included the flexibility that online courses in Blackboard provide as well as the financial benefits of using OER, all while maintaining the rigor and quality resources students have come to expect from Schoolcraft College.
The team will be recognized at the 2020 Blackboard World international conference. A video overview of their accomplishment can be viewed here.
OER, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.” This award celebrates the successes derived through Distance Learning’s work with faculty and staff to incorporate OER into pivotal online courses that are part of the MTA.
How open resources help teachers and students
Because the materials are “open,” instructors are free to modify, copy and distribute resources in a way they deem essential for learning. Another benefit to utilizing OER is that the materials are freely available to students immediately, and the immediacy of their availability gives students the peace of mind of having everything they need to succeed on day one. It also gives the instructors the confidence of knowing students do not have this barrier to their learning. The team’s entry documented the intensive five-year plan to make this concept a reality for students.
“At the time that this nomination was submitted, 14 online courses utilized an OER and nearly 11,000 students had taken them, and, all together, they had saved more than $1.4 million in textbook costs,” said Kaylynn Mortensen, Instructional Designer. “Additionally, increased learner support due to the barriers removed by utilizing OER have positively affected success rates in these courses. Since then several more have already been developed, so these numbers will continue to grow.”
Being able to transfer classes to a four-year institution in Michigan is a key reason many students start at Schoolcraft College. In brief, the Michigan Transfer Agreement allows students to complete core or general education classes at Schoolcraft first, which is usually much more cost-effective, instead of at a four-year school.
This statewide agreement provides for the transfer of 30 college credits to meet many (and in some cases all) of the General Education requirements at a participating Michigan four-year college or university. Some stipulations apply, so students should talk with their Schoolcraft academic advisor to select the right courses.
“Before this initiative, it would have cost each student at least $1,345.55 in materials alone in order to fulfill the Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) online,” Mortensen said. “That cost is now $110.25, and we are working on getting it down to $0. That's a savings of over $1,200 per student who completes the MTA online at Schoolcraft College.
“We have even now moved beyond simply adopting OER for courses but actually working with faculty to develop and openly license our own, several of which are already being used both in print or digitally in Schoolcraft College courses.”
Schoolcraft College previously won two Exemplary Course Awards from Blackboard in 2017. The online courses recognized were MATH 047 (Prealgebra) and HIST 153 (Contemporary America), both OER based courses. The courses were recognized for excellence in Course Design, Interaction & Collaboration, Assessment and Learner Support.
“We are overjoyed with this accomplishment,” Jason Kane, Instructional Designer. “We have put a lot of effort into this initiative over the past five years, and we plan to continue. OER has grown in popularity across campus as well, and this award is an indication that we’re doing something really great that will only draw more attention to these types of resources providing Schoolcraft College students with more opportunities and at lower cost.”