BILL NUMBER: AB 2261 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT

CHAPTER 671
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 21, 2008
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 28, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 12, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2008

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, 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.

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 establish a 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 lead community college district be selected from
community college district applicants based upon a demonstration of
its ability to accomplish specified objectives. The bill would
require participating districts to report program information to the
Chancellor’s office of the California Community Colleges, who would
be required to report the findings to the Governor and the
Legislature on or before January 1, 2012. The bill would specify that
no additional state appropriation may be requested or provided for
purposes of this act.

The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2012.

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, including, but not limited to, 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 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. Community colleges
participating in the pilot program shall support program costs
through existing state funds appropriated for purposes consistent
with this program, or through federal and private funding. The
Chancellor of the California Community Colleges may designate a lead
community college district to coordinate the planning and development
of the pilot program.

(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 lead community college district specified in subdivision
(a) shall be selected from community college district applicants
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.
(5) Identifying sources of adequate funding to accomplish
paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive.

(d) Participating districts shall report to the Chancellor’s
office of the California Community Colleges, upon request, on all of
the following:
(1) The number of faculty and students who use OER in their
courses.
(2) The quality of faculty and student experiences with OER
compared to traditional courses.
(3) The grades earned in OER courses.
(4) The cost of OER course materials compared to non-OER
materials.

(e) The Chancellor’s office of the California Community Colleges
shall report findings made pursuant to subdivision (d) to the
Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2012.

(f) No additional state appropriation shall be requested or
provided for purposes of the section.

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.