Crafton Hills College (CHC) mathematics professor Joshua Robles is implementing a no-cost adaptation of a popular statistics course, saving students up to $300 each.
"Textbooks remain one of the most significant expenses for our students and, unfortunately, a financial barrier for some of our most at-risk students," said College President Kevin Horan. "Our CHC faculty are dedicated to finding innovative ways to make sure Crafton is accessible, a college degree is affordable, and removing financial barriers whenever possible," Horan continued.
The course is completely housed in Canvas, an online learning management system used at many colleges, including CHC. A recent survey showed that almost half of Robles' students primarily access their courses via mobile devices. Since the Canvas platform is already familiar to CHC students and provides excellent mobile support, he knew it would be a perfect option for easy access to the course's text, homework, quizzes, and discussions.
"Even though the course materials are no-cost, they are still high quality," said Robles. "The material is presented in small chunks and the text is written to be student friendly. We are excited to explore expanding low- or no-cost options for more of our courses."
Typical math courses use a publisher textbook and its accompanying online homework system. Depending on the course, a new textbook with an access code to the online homework system can cost up to $300, if bought used, $200. Due to budget restraints, many students often forgo textbooks altogether and pay only for access to the online homework system at approximately $100.
Crafton Hills College plans to continue expanding the number of no-cost course materials classes. When registering, students are able to search for course sections that exclusively use digital or other instructional materials that are free of charge to students and in some cases have a low-cost option for print versions for students who prefer that format.
The Open Learning Initiative course, Concept of Statistics, is an introductory statistics course designed for students who may have a weak algebra background. It was adapted to be delivered through Canvas by faculty at Los Medanos College and Cuyamaca College.
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