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Textbook costs have risen by as much as 73% over the past decade.
Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) faculty have been working with the college’s library and Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship (CETLS) to convert expensive classroom course textbook materials into Open Educational Resources (OER) and other freely accessible documents and media. The effort at BMCC is the largest and most consistent throughout the City University of New York (CUNY) system, according to CUNY Open Education Librarian Ann Fiddler.
Currently, BMCC faculty are teaching approximately 175 sections of zero-textbook-cost courses, resulting in an estimated annual savings of $450,000 for more than 4,000 students. By Fall 2017, cumulative savings for BMCC students will be more than $1 million, according to figures compiled by the BMCC A. Philip Randolph Memorial Library.
BMCC first piloted an OER initiative in Spring 2015 through the BMCC Library and CETLS.
Faculty chosen for the program are able to demonstrate potential savings to BMCC students. Preference is given to Pathways and high-enrollment courses. Other factors taken into account are class size and transferability of the project to other courses.
BMCC leads CUNY effort and receives more funding
During the two-year period since the BMCC program began, the college has joined forces with the CUNY Library’s Open Educational Resources efforts and this has led to additional funding for the OER program at BMCC.
In Spring 2016, the CUNY Office of Library Services was chosen to participate in Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree grant program. Three CUNY colleges — BMCC, Hostos Community College and Bronx Community College — joined 38 colleges nationwide to convert at least one section of courses in a selected degree program, to OER. BMCC’s Criminal Justice degree program will be fully converted by Fall 2018.
CUNY also received $4 million in Spring 2017 from the State of New York Governor’s Office to support ongoing OER initiatives. The expected result will be large-scale course conversions throughout the university, including BMCC.
Also in Spring 2017, CUNY received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pilot Waymaker, personalized OER learning courseware. This project is part of a three-year research study that will evaluate the impact of OER courses on student success, persistence and retention.
CUNY students can now search for zero-textbook-cost courses through the CUNY First platform. By Spring 2017, there were 127 zero-textbook-cost courses listed with the majority of those being from BMCC.
“BMCC is by far, the most shining example,” says CUNY Open Education Librarian Ann Fiddler.
Operating under one umbrella
BMCC’s OER efforts are coordinated by the BMCC Library, CETLS and the Office of Academic Affairs.
“We have a constellation of OER programs that are working synergistically together,” said Jean Amaral, Assistant Professor and BMCC Outreach Librarian, who has spearheaded much of the effort.
She points out that BMCC students will greatly benefit as the program expands. Estimates show more than half of CUNY students come from households with annual incomes of less than $20,000. For many students, including those at BMCC, the average $1,200 each year for books and other supplies can be a barrier to academic success.
It was textbook affordability that sparked the original BMCC OER project, according to Amaral.
“When students can’t buy textbooks because they don’t have the money, it impacts their learning and ability to succeed,” said Amaral, who points to lack of competition in the textbook publishing industry as the culprit behind rising costs.
Over the past decade, the average cost of college textbooks has increased at a staggering rate —73 percent or more than four times the rate of inflation—according to data gathered by the Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGs), an independent national student organization that works on issues such as consumer protection.
Student PIRGs says individual textbooks often cost more than $200, and nearly a third of the 5,000 students surveyed reported using a portion of their financial aid to pay for textbooks.
Faculty discover new ways to teach
OER gives faculty more control over course content, rather than teaching to a for-profit publisher’s textbook, according to BMCC Associate Dean of Faculty Jim Berg.
“It offers faculty the opportunity to match course material to their teaching goals,” said Berg.
In particular, OER have the capability to be “tailor made” specifically to a professor’s class, according to Daniel Torres, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, BMCC.
“Developing your own OER material as I did, gives you flexibility to add and remove bits and pieces, making the class easier for our students,” said Torres.
He says this is especially important for classes such as College Chemistry. For example, the OER Chemistry lab manual Torres developed was tailor made for the BMCC chemistry laboratories, using procedures that he and other BMCC professors say work well for BMCC students.
“”OER has been revolutionary in creating different ways to teach my students,” said Marci Littlefield, Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice Department.
She says OER material is more topical than the static content of a textbook.
“A lot of textbooks aren’t written appropriately for 100- or 200-level courses, and if the student’s first language is not English, they might struggle more with the material,” explained Littlefield. “Open sources challenged me to come up with a more level-appropriate way to present the same material, enabling students to understand it and move on to more challenging materials.”
Enhancing student performance and expanding faculty participation
CUNY Librarian Fiddler says OER materials have shown potential to improve student outcomes. In one math course using OER at CUNY, students scored 10 points higher on the final exam and were three times as likely to pass the course as were students using expensive materials from traditional publishing companies.
Fiddler says with all the new funding and faculty interest, the promise of OER is tremendous.
At BMCC, Amaral says the OER program has seen more faculty applications than they can accept. But, she adds that the college’s Office of Academic Affairs believes in the program and has funded the effort at higher levels than most other CUNY schools.
“And now, thanks in great part to the state’s $4 million in funding, we will be able to accommodate more professors who want to participate in developing OER, and our program will expand more quickly,” she says.
Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) is proud to announce the Fall 2016 Guttman Transfer Scholarship winners.
“BMCC has the largest number of Fall 2016 scholars among all CUNY colleges,” said Alana Hankey-Thomas, Associate Director of the BMCC Academic Advisement and Transfer Center, and co-coordinator of the BMCC Guttman Scholarship Program.
Guttman Transfer Scholarships offer generous financial benefits to outstanding CUNY community college students who transfer to an eligible CUNY senior college.
BMCC's Fall 2016 Guttman Transfer Scholarship winners are: Emily Ally, Abd-Manaaf Bakare, Hrvoje Budimir Bekkan, Arlette Butcher, Znobia Dixon, Christina Escobar, Renata Gumkowska, JianMing Kang, Crystal Leonard, Mansha Liu, Benjamin Margulies, Ariel Mazor, Desiree Mendez, Sultan Mirzhalilov, Gina Mitchell, Joel Picon, Sara Singh, Chris Tejada and Lin Yank.
Sussie Gyamfi, Scholarship and Special Services Coordinator in the Office of Student Affairs says Guttman Scholars receive up to $4,000 over two years to attend Brooklyn, City, Hunter, Lehman or Queens College. They must be recent graduates of a CUNY community college, and have at least a 3.5 GPA. Priority is given to applicants who are eligible for financial aid, as evidenced by their FAFSA filing. The Guttman scholarship program was founded in 2013 through a generous endowment from the Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation.
Hankey-Thomas says, “This is a highly competitive program that reaches out to ensure the success of our most high-achieving, income-eligible students. These are students who have proven their academic tenacity as well as their sense of career goals and intention to contribute to their fields of choice in a positive way. They have been active and supportive members of the BMCC community, and we are certain they will continue to excel as they pursue their bachelor’s degree in a four-year CUNY college.”
Lucy Coodley was a Spring 2016 Guttman Scholar who earned an Associate in Arts degree in Liberal Arts at BMCC. “Now I am majoring in Economics at Hunter College,” says Coodley. “I just finished a semester focusing on microeconomics, studying the economic situations of individuals, and now we are moving into macroeconomics, which looks at how individuals connect to each other, economically.”
Coodley describes herself as “an older student, with a home language of Chinese, so reading takes me longer than the others in my class. When native speakers spend one-hour studying, I need to spend five hours. The Guttman Scholarship helps with expenses that my financial aid doesn’t cover, and it makes it possible for me not to work, so I can spend more time studying and reading. It has made a big difference for me.”
Since 2014, when the first scholarships were awarded, BMCC has nurtured students through the application process, with numerous students going on to win the prestigious award.
Spring 2016 winners included: Yuleisy Oeballos, Lucy Coodley, Edel Kelly, Nina Lopez-Ortiz, Jessica Martinez, Shaquille Maynard, Rosmery Nunez, Gabriel San Emeterio,
The Fall 2015 winners included; Noah Abitbol, Alcida Adam, Farzana Akhtar, Christian Badaracco, Awnon Bhowmik, Irene Djene, Tsering Dorjee, Hend Elsayed, Mohammad Hossain, Abdoul Kone, Ruby Labaran, Tanisha Lewis, Dylan Mandel, Marta Pabon and Yang Zhang.
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the longest operating performance venue in lower Manhattan, proudly presents a 20th Anniversary Concert for The Brooklyn Women’s Chorus on Friday, May 12, 2017 at 8:00PM.
A community chorus, The Brooklyn Women’s Chorus was formed in October 1997 by Park Slope resident and musician, Bev Grant. With a repertoire ranging from South African freedom songs to socially relevant songs by contemporary American songwriters like Garth Brooks, Jackson Browne, Pat Humphries and Bev Grant, song topics range from freedom and justice to peace, resistance and women’s labor history. Their albums include Brooklyn Women’s Chorus and the Power of Song, and I Will Sing, which was recorded live at TPAC in 2014. The Brooklyn Women’s Chorus is its own sanctuary for women who are seeking community and a safe place to find and raise their voice in song.
There are no auditions necessary to join the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus, only a strong desire to sing. It is Bev’s contention that everyone can sing, and she brings together women of many different levels of musical experience. The proof is in the rousing performances by the chorus. The Brooklyn Women’s Chorus communicates with a joyful voice, sure to uplift anyone who hears them. In existence for 15 years, the chorus is flourishing as a place where women use music and spoken word to express their individual talents as well as their collective belief in social justice.
Tickets are $21 ($15 for students/seniors). To purchase tickets, call Ticketing Services at (212) 220-1460. Single tickets can also be purchased by visiting our website at http://tribecapac.org/brooklyn-womens-chorus-may-12/ or by visiting the Box Office at 199 Chambers Street, Tues-Sat from 12PM – 6PM. Additionally, patrons can take advantage of our Spotlight 5 program – a $15 rate available by purchasing five or more tickets. Call (212) 220 – 1460 for more information!
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One of more than 35 breakout sessions at the CUE Conference[/caption]
The CUNY Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE) Conference 2017 was held May 5 at BMCC’s main campus, 199 Chambers Street, and at BMCC’s Fiterman Hall, 245 Greenwich Street.
The Conference theme, Accelerating Progress, Accelerating Equity: Improving Student Success in Developmental and Gateway Courses was reflected in breakout sessions, a keynote address by Katie Hern, Director of the California Acceleration Project, and Plenary by Steven Hinds, Director of Chicago’s Active Learning in Adult Numeracy and Mathematics.
"One of the University’s highest priorities and certainly BMCC’s highest priority is improving student success,” said BMCC Provost Karrin E. Wilks, as the conference opened with a breakfast in Richard Harris Terrace. “We’ll never be able to do that unless we improve developmental outcomes and outcomes in Gateway courses. This is essential to realizing our mission of advancing opportunity, equity and student success. This conference is a great opportunity to learn from what other colleges are doing, proven practices that address those priorities."
Katie Hern’s Keynote Address, “Improving Completion and Equity in Developmental and Gateway English and Math,” presented findings from her work supporting California’s 113 community colleges as they implement reforms to increase student completion of college-level coursework and close the racial equity gap.
Closing the mathematics gap for adult students and college students who struggle with math was the focus of the conference plenary by Steven Hinds, “Active Learning Pedagogy for Developmental and Gateway Algebra.”
