Report 2007-116 Recommendation 9 Responses

Report 2007-116: Affordability of College Textbooks: Textbook Prices Have Risen Significantly in the Last Four Years, but Some Strategies May Help to Control These Costs for Students (Release Date: August 2008)

Recommendation #9 To: Community Colleges Chancellor's Office

To ensure that courses taught by faculty whose main instructional materials are open educational resources meet the articulation requirements for students who transfer to the UC and CSU systems, faculty and the system offices at the UC, CSU, and community colleges should collaborate to develop acceptable standards and policies related to content, currency, and quality of these alternative instructional materials.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From December 2009

The Guiding Notes for General Education Course Reviewers is a guide to the Online Services for Curriculum Articulation Review (OSCAR), a software program within the ASSIST database used by the California State University, the University of California and the California Community Colleges to facilitate the articulation process. In May of 2009, CCC Faculty successfully secured an agreement from CSU Office of the Chancellor to update the Guiding Notes with language stating that the use of open textbooks and online textbooks are an acceptable substitute for traditional textbooks. Since UC does not publish a similar guide, but accepts determinations made by CSU, the Guiding Notes serve as the de facto authoritative reference on this topic for all three segments. (See 2009-041, p. 48)

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

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All Recommendations in 2007-116

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.