Dear colleagues,
As you may know, our Zed Cred initiative enables
students to take courses and even earn credentials at KPU while incurring zero required textbook costs (thanks to the use of open educational resources or library resources).
Over the past two years we have launched Canada’s first such programs, the most recent of which are the Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies, the A. A. in Sociology, and the Diploma in General Studies. Across the four semesters that this initiative
has been running, KPU students have saved approximately $1.8 million in textbook costs.
However, over this same period we have received feedback from several students, instructors, and staff about the name of the initiative. The issue has been a lack of clarity: the term “Zed Cred” always needs to be explained so that
it is not confused as meaning zero credit courses or even zero credibility courses. Indeed, as a result of this confusion we have heard that there have been some cases of students not registering for these sections. In order to resolve this problem, the Open Education Working Group has
worked with our colleagues in Marketing to look at alternative names. We are proposing a rebranding of the initiative, from Zed Cred to Zero Textbook Cost
(ZTC for short). The term “Zero Textbook Cost” has several advantages, including that it is already being used by several U.S. institutions that offer similar programs, it is self-explanatory, and it is flexible (could be used for courses, programs, or
degrees).
But before we consider adopting the new term we wanted to reach out to solicit feedback on the proposed rebranding. Do you see any issues with it? If so, please share your thoughts by sending an email to
open@kpu.ca
Thank you very much,
Rajiv
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Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D. |
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