Columbia State Community College receives Open Educational Resources projects grant

Columbia State Community College has received grant funding from the Tennessee Board of Regents to pursue two separate projects in partnership with other Tennessee colleges and universities. The grant projects are courses that are being piloted in the Spring 2025 semester that make use of Open Educational Resources. OER are materials for teaching and learning that are in the public domain or otherwise free to use in the classroom that will help reduce the costs associated with textbooks and other course material fees, in turn lessening the financial burden of receiving an education. 

According to the website for the Tennessee Board of Regents, its Open Educational Resources Grant Project aims to “increase success and innovation in access to quality, no/low-cost educational materials,” and “is designed to increase success rates and improve educational outcomes for traditionally underserved students, such as, but not limited to, students of color, first-generation college students, and economically disadvantaged students.”

There are two courses being piloted this semester which rely on OER. The first is led by Yvonne Mills, an English instructor at Columbia State Community College. The course is focused on acquiring OER materials that can be used for English as a Second Language programs. Working with Mills on the project are Scott Beard, a Reading and English instructor from Columbia State Community College, and Caroline Froc, a humanities instructor at Northeast State Community College.

According to an article on Columbia State Community College’s website, Mills is quoted as saying of the project she and her team are pursuing, “While there is an abundance of ESL-specific OER materials available, many require significant adaptation to meet the needs of diverse student demographics and institutional objectives. Tailoring these resources to align with my students’ academic and cultural backgrounds meant modifying existing examples and developing supplementary exercises to ensure accessibility and relevance. This project also reinforced the critical role of collaboration in curriculum development. Working closely with colleagues, particularly Caroline, highlighted the importance of a shared understanding of student needs and the value of cross-disciplinary feedback. This teamwork not only strengthened my own instructional strategies but also underscored the power of adaptable, student-centered materials in maximizing learning outcomes.”

The other project, which is being led by Dale Hobbs, an assistant professor of mathematics at Columbia State Community College, and assisted by Charles McCauley, an instructor of mathematics at Volunteer State Community College, is the pilot course for an Introductory Statistics program that uses the interactive app GeoGebra.

Hobbs said, “This project provided valuable insights into my academic discipline, instructional approach and course content. Integrating interactive GeoGebra applets has proven to be a powerful way to make abstract concepts more accessible and enhance student engagement. The experience also reinforced the importance of accessibility in content creation. Ensuring that all materials are inclusive remains a challenge, but this project has helped me develop a stronger awareness of how to approach accessibility in course design. Moving forward, I’m eager to expand the use of OER and advocate for their adoption to help reduce cost barriers and enrich student learning.”

For more information about Columbia State Community College, visit the school’s website.