To make zELI courses broadly available, NOVA is collaborating with Lumen Learning to build the courses in Lumen’s flexible platform designed expressly for OER-based courses. The collection of zELI courses is freely available through the Lumen website. Institutions may opt to use Lumen’s extremely low-cost, paid support for zELI courses, which covers faculty training, technical support, the ability to fully customize course materials, integration into any major LMS, and guidance around OER program design.
“We are delighted to join with the NOVA team in making this body of work available to the education community,” said Dr. David Wiley, chief academic officer of Lumen Learning. “Open degree pathways and OER courses give colleges essential building blocks to rapidly develop and offer their own zero textbook cost degree programs. We know from OER adoption patterns that a degree program is a game-changer in terms of generating momentum and scaling the positive impact on students.”
To date, more than 10,000 students have enrolled in NOVA ELI courses yielding textbook cost savings of over $1.5 million over two years. According to Dr. Davis, the ELI team of faculty, instructional designers and librarians was careful to select core, high-enrollment courses that can impact as many students as possible, regardless of specific course of study. At the same time, the team looked beyond individual courses to create depth and quality around full pathways for students to earn an entire degree.
According to TJ Bliss, program officer in the Education Program at the Hewlett Foundation, “This step by NOVA goes far towards putting OER degree programs within reach for other colleges. It gives academic leaders a vision of what is now possible in open education, as well as the means to get there. For institutions struggling with affordability and access, OER degree programs can catalyze systemic change towards open education, and colleges can reap the benefits in terms of student success.”
Material from a press release was used in this report.
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