BILL NUMBER: AB 2261	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ruskin

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2008

   An act to add and repeal Article 2 (commencing with Section 78910)
of Chapter 7 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education
Code, relating to community colleges. .


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2261, as introduced, Ruskin. Community colleges: open education
resources centers.
   Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under
the administration of the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary
education in this state. Existing law establishes community college
districts throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to
provide instruction to students at community college campuses.
   Existing law, the Cardenas Textbook Act of 2000, approved by the
voters as Proposition 20 at the March 7, 2000, primary election,
requires that a specified amount of total annual revenues of the
state lottery be allocated to school districts and community college
districts for the purchase of instructional materials, on the basis
of an equal amount per unit of average daily attendance, as defined,
and through a fair and equitable distribution system across grade
levels.
   This bill would express findings and declarations of the
Legislature relating to open education resources, as defined. The
bill would authorize the board of governors to use revenue allocated
to community colleges from the California State Lottery Education
Fund to establish a competitive grant pilot program to provide
faculty and staff from community college districts around the state
with the information methods, and instructional materials to
establish open education resources centers. The bill would define
open education resources for its purposes. The bill would specify
that a pilot program grant recipient be selected based upon a
demonstration of its ability to accomplish specified objectives. The
bill would require the board of governors to contract with an
independent 3rd party with expertise in this subject matter to
evaluate the pilot project and submit the evaluation to the
Legislature no later than 2 years after the pilot program is
implemented.
   The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2012.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Open education resources are learning materials or resources
whose copyrights have expired, or that have been released with an
intellectual property license that permits their free use or
repurposing by others without the permission of the original authors
or creators. Open education resources include items such as courses,
course materials, textbooks, streaming video of classroom lectures,
tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used
to transmit knowledge that have an impact on teaching and learning.
   (b) Community colleges need to take greater advantage of open
education resources, especially for basic skills and general
education classes, such as algebra, that use course content that
remains generally unchanged over time.
  SEC. 2.  Article 2 (commencing with Section 78910) is added to
Chapter 7 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code,
to read:

      Article 2.  Open Education Resources Centers


   78910.  (a) The Board of Governors of the California Community
Colleges is authorized to establish a competitive grant pilot program
to provide faculty and staff from community college districts around
the state with the information methods, and instructional materials
to establish open education resources centers. The board of governors
may fund the program using revenue identified in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a) of Section 8880.4 of the Government Code.
   (b) For purposes of this article, "open education resources" are
learning materials or resources, including, but not necessarily
limited to, books, course materials, video materials, tests, or
software, the copyrights of which have expired, or have been released
with an intellectual property license that permits their free use or
repurposing by others without the permission of the original authors
or creators of the learning materials or resources.
   (c) The pilot program grant recipient shall be selected based upon
a demonstration of its ability to accomplish all of the following:
   (1) Develop and implement a model for the creation of open
education resources (OER) course content that is pedagogically sound
and fully accessible, in compliance with the federal Americans With
Disabilities Act (Public Law 101-336), by students with varying
learning styles and disabilities.
   (2) Develop community college model OER courses and instructional
materials that meet the requirements of the Intersegmental General
Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) or of basic skills education
courses in English, English as a second language, or mathematics, or
that meet the requirements of both the IGETC and the basic skills
education courses.
   (3) Develop a community college professional development course
that introduces faculty, staff, and college course developers to the
concept, creation, content, and production methodologies that enable
OER to be offered to students in community college classes,
including, but not necessarily limited to, all of the following:
   (A) Substitutes for textbooks.
   (B) Addressing issues relating to copyright, the obtaining of
permission for use of material, and other intellectual property
concepts.
   (C) Accessibility for students with disabilities.
   (D) Delivery options that incorporate multiple learning styles and
strategies.
   (4) Create an OER information repository to serve as the single
point of contact for information about community college OER, the
public domain, OER courses and course materials, research and
production processes, and professional resources for creating and
repurposing OER.
   (d) The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
shall contract with an independent third party with expertise in this
subject matter to evaluate the project. The evaluation shall
include, but not be limited to, an assessment of the number of
faculty and students that use OER in their classes, the quality of
their experiences compared to traditional courses, the grades earned,
and the cost, comparing OER and non-OER course materials. The board
of governors may require additional information that it determines to
be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness and viability of OER for
use by community colleges statewide. This evaluation shall be
submitted to the Legislature no later than two years after the pilot
program is implemented.
   78910.5.  This article shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2012, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2012 deletes or extends
that date.