#ZedCredAhead! No Tuition & No Textbook Costs - the BC Basic Adult Education Zed Cred
Presenters: Krista Lambert, Andrew Candela, and Mary Shier
The ABE is for adult learners who are upgrading students with the goal of completing high school or enrolling in a vocational or academic program. There is a tuition-free policy for domestic students attending this program
in BC. They received additional funding to ensure that the textbooks would be
also free for students. Initially the textbook funds concentrated on the required courses for graduation (English, Math and 3
electives).
Program effected by the constant crisis of changing governments and their support/non-support
of these programs and their intermittent failure to question/consider the impact that their decisions have on the educators
and students in these programs.
Flexible methods of teaching and working with students as programs work
around life and employment to ensure student success. Courses are self-paced and there is a bi-monthly
intake of students.
OER can mean that instructors are not compiling and monitoring
textbooks on their own. Mary Shier
mentioned that her and her colleague collected textbooks (multiple titles, used
textbooks), so that students can borrow from directly from the instructors.
If we offer online textbooks, we cannot forget that not all students will be able to use
technology in the same way and they might not have access to equipment or
Internet access in the same way + accommodations (speech readers for example) +
materials may need to be translated. Print copies or alternatives still need to be available for some students.
K12 could be using these materials - huge untapped market of
potential users of OER.
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