History of OER at MCCCD

Open Maricopa (formerly, Maricopa Millions)

During the 2012/2013 academic year, then-Provost Dr. Maria Harper-Marinick requested that an ad-hoc team look into the possibility of consolidating and expanding the many OER projects across the District into a strategic and systemic district-wide initiative. Their vision, the Maricopa Millions Open Educational Resources (MMOER) Project, is intended to reduce educational costs for students while providing immediate and permanent access to learning resources. Spending less money on textbooks and materials fosters greater access to materials for students, which may enable them to stay on track with completing their courses.

Over the project’s initial six years, Maricopa Millions estimates that faculty across the district have saved students over $15 million in textbook costs by choosing to use low-cost/no-cost materials instead of costly traditional textbooks.

The Maricopa Millions OER Project includes developing a strategic, sustainable OER infrastructure that includes awareness, professional development, OER development, and technical support, marketing, and technical structure. In order for OER to be successful at MCCCD, in 2013 an OER strategic planning and implementation team was established, under the leadership of Lisa Young, Paul Golisch, and Alisa Cooper. Maricopa Millions is now an ongoing initiative led by the OER Steering Team, a district-wide committee that strives to include representatives from every sector of the institution and from each of the colleges.

Recently, the Maricopa Millions OER Project was provided a Faculty-in-Residence OER Coordinator position. Matthew Bloom, Scottsdale Community College English Faculty, was the first to hold this position in addition to chair of the committee. Followed by Dr. Sian Proctor, South Mountain Community College, Geology, Sustainability, & Planetary Science Faculty.  In the Fall of 2021, the Project began a brand change from Maricopa Millions to Open Maricopa to align with other OER efforts around the world and current district OER work beyond the original goals of Maricopa Millions. 

In 2022, the district OER initiative gained additional support, Lisa Young was appointed the first Faculty Administrator, Open Education Programs and Innovation to serve a two-year position with the option for a one-year extension. The position reports directly to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

How the Savings are Calculated

The Maricopa Millions project estimates the cost savings using the following conservative formula by finding these factors:

  • The number of sections of the top 50 high-enrollment courses offered with the No-Cost/Low-Cost course note (code 0060)*
  • An estimated enrollment of 20 students per section
  • An estimated textbook cost savings of $100/student

The formula then multiplies these factors: # of NC/LC (0060) Sections X 20 Students per Section X $100 Savings per Student

*BOExi is used for reporting. Because 0060 coding at the class level is required and some departments across the district code at the course level, Open Maricopa has been looking for another reporting tool.

Recent Savings Estimates

 District-wide Fall 2019 No-Cost/Low Cost Materials Savings

$2,398,000

MCC Fall 2019 No-Cost/Low Cost Materials Savings

$256, 000

 

License

Department OER Savings Report Copyright © by Mesa Community College eLearning Department. All Rights Reserved.