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About Z-Majors

openCI

In fall 2018, CI launched the CSU鈥檚 first two zero-textbook-cost majors (e.g., 鈥淶-Majors鈥�) in Communication and Early Childhood Studies, launching a third Z-Major in Health Science during fall 2019. With the 鈥淶鈥� referring to 鈥渮ero textbook costs,鈥� Z-Majors offer students a pathway through all of their major鈥檚 required courses without the need to purchase a textbook. This is accomplished by replacing traditional textbooks with open education resources (OER), e-textbooks, library materials, government reports, online courseware, open access journals, etc. While CI鈥檚 Communication, Early Childhood Studies, and Health Science programs continue to work on keeping low/no-cost options available for their students, the Special Education Credential program (鈥淶-Cred鈥�) and Nursing Track II RN-BSN program (鈥淶-Track鈥�) have also developed no-textbook-cost pathways. More recent still, the Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics has taken program-level efforts to introduce more low/no-cost courses as well. Through each of these efforts, CSUCI鈥檚 openCI initiative has emerged as a national leader in textbook affordability for the entire CSU system and beyond.

Press Releases Regarding the Z-Major

  1. February 27: Blog post on听
  2. March 10: Editorial in the听
  3. April 26: 听Campus-wide video from听听
  4. June 25: CSUCI听press release
  5. July 1: 听Featured on听
  6. July 6: Featured in the听
  7. July 7: Featured in the听
  8. July 10: Featured in听Channel Magazine
  9. August 3: 听Highlighted as an exemplar for others in the CSU by the听

Course Examples

As an example of what can be achieved in the redesign of a course, you can click below and explore CI's Communication 101 Public Speaking course, publicly shared through Canvas Commons. This course offers faculty the ability to select the materials they feel best fit the learning outcomes and student needs.

Z-Major Program Leads:

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