Welcome!
Learn about open education practices at BCIT and find resources for creating and using open educational resources (OER).
What's New?
BCIT recently hosted an event, Growing OERs Across Institutions: A Collaborative Cycle, for Open Education Week 2025. Video of the event is available.
On February 5, 2025, BCIT Open Education Librarian Ian Linkletter presented “Intro to Open Education”. Video of the presentation is available.
New open education grant opportunities are now closed for 2025. This year’s Open Education Employee Excellence Award is still accepting applications until March 1, 2025.
BCIT has launched a ZTC pilot where instructors can mark their courses Zero Textbook Cost in the course outline.
International Open Access Week was October 21-27, 2024, and there were a lot of exciting events. VCC Library hosted “Defining & Finding Open Educational Resources“.
Congratulations to Amy Goldlist, the 2024 winner of the Employee Excellence Award for Teaching Excellence in Open Education!
On March 6, 2024, there was a Food for Thought event called The Development and Evolution of 3 Open Textbooks at BCIT Library related to Open Education Week. Julia Alards-Tomalin, Erika Ram, and Amy Goldlist presented about their open education projects. Video of the event is available.
On March 4, 2024, the BC Open Education Librarians hosted a conversation with Autumm Caines and Brenna Clarke Gray called “Planes, trains, and generative AI: Recentering open education values in new technology adoption”. Video of the event is available.
What is open education?
Open Education encompasses resources, tools and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment. Open Education maximizes the power of the Internet to make education more affordable, accessible and effective (SPARC).
Why use open educational resources?
A few advantages of using and developing open educational resources (OER):
- OER is shared in digital format so it is easy to add openly licensed materials to online learning management systems. Learn about adopting OER.
- Open licenses give various permissions that usually allow the user to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute the materials. Learn about licensing.
- OER encompasses a wide range of materials including textbooks, presentation slides, handouts, videos, images, and much more. Learn how to find materials.
- Instructors have control over the learning materials they use in their classroom – OER can be customized or created to support class learning outcomes. Learn about adapting OER.
- Students can engage in meaningful class work to help create or improve open learning materials. Learn about open pedagogy.
- Courses with low or no learning materials costs provide a significant advantage to students in lowering financial barriers to post-secondary education. Learn about OER impact.
In the 2023 Mandate Letter [PDF] from the Province, BCIT is directed to focus on key priorities “including the continued expansion of access to affordable, accessible, and relevant training.”
Open Education provides free, accessible, and innovative learning resources for students at BCIT and beyond.
Open BCIT Updates
ZTC
The Associate Certificate in the Fundamentals of Water and Wastewater Operations program is BCIT’s first zero textbook cost (ZTC) certification. Congratulations to the School of Construction and the Environment!
The program curriculum takes full advantage of open education resources and practices. Students enrolled in the program will not be required to purchase any additional textbooks or resources.
OER at BCIT
Currently, there are 14 BCIT faculty authored Open Textbooks included in the BCcampus BC Open Textbook Collection. Inclusion in the collections means that the textbooks have met expectations for quality, relevancy, and ability to meet the needs of post-secondary faculty, students, and institutions within B.C. and Canada. Open BCIT awards Open Education Grants to faculty to help promote and support the development of open educational resources. Completed projects can be found in our Showcase, and files for download are in the BCIT Open Collection repository.
Introductory Microbiology
By Sabrina Cornish, Sarah McLeod, and Supipi Duffy
The Introductory Microbiology project is a series of video tutorials and online assignments that highlight the basic skills and techniques learned in an introductory microbiology library. Topics include aseptic transfer of microbes, enumerating microbes, safe operation of an autoclave, safe operation and calibration of a compound microscope, differential and selective medias, and a virtual lab to identify unknown microorganisms.