Business ZTC Project Update: Oct-Dec 2020

This quarterly status report is to share progress for the the Business ZTC Project and to outline plans for the coming months.

Overview

This status report is in the form of a quarterly report rather than monthly. One of the primary goals last quarter was to award a ZTC grant to a business program. An agreement was signed with Douglas College in December to develop a ZTC General Business Certificate for $33,500.

Work on the Marketing OER projects have continued and a number of meeting with Articulation, Business departments, faculty and the Advisory Group took place.

Krista Lambert joined the project in November to support business projects while Melanie is working on OOC project.

More information about previous activity and timelines for the project can be found on the Business ZTC Charter Wiki page.

Activity Last Quarter

Goals that were met, decisions made, milestones met, etc.

The last status report indicated that a the call for proposals for a Marketing ZTC was unsuccessful. A couple of Marketing programs that had previously expressed interest communicated that the timing was a factor for them and that they may be ready to look at creating a ZTC in a year or two. As a result, focus for a ZTC shifted to Business Administration programs.

The 2nd Business Advisory Group meeting was held on October 15th and welcomed new member Wendy Anderson from Selkirk College (Tourism).

Melanie presented at the Business Articulation Committee meeting in November and facilitated a workshop on OER for Business programs. Through the meeting, Melanie reached out to a Coordinator with the CPA confirming it is possible to use OER for Accounting programs and meet accreditation requirements.

Activity in November was a little slower do to two open education conferences (OpenEd, OEGlobal) and BCcampus event: Studio20.

The following is a summary of the activity on Business OER projects:

1) Consumer Behaviour

No update since last report.

2) Developing a Marketing Plan

No update since last report. This project was put on hold due to availability of the author and co-author of the book. A communication was sent in December to meet and discuss next steps. Timelines for the project are likely to be extended.

3) Digital Marketing

No update since last report.

4) Principles of Marketing Question Bank

Final report and invoicing for the project complete in December. The author, Michael Orwick has made the question back available in Mircosoft Word. In the new year the process to add them to the Principles of Marketing Textbook in the BCcampus collection will begin. The author is interested in publishing a ‘Canadian’ version of the book based on work he has done already to the textbook. We will discuss next steps in January.

5) ZTC

We were pleased to award a ZTC grant to Douglas College for the General Business Certificate. As part of the project, new OER will be developed as well as adaptations for existing OER (for local context) which will be a benefit to other business programs in the Province. The project has a completion date of September 2022.

A press release has been drafted and will be published in January.

Grant amount: $33,500
Project Lead: Florence Daddey, Instructor

6) New Project: Business Statistics

Lisa Kanary (Yukon College) would like to adapt the OpenStax book: Introductory Business Statistics. Her goal is to adapt the book for the Northern context using funds previously awarded to her to participate in an OpenStax conference.

Planned Activity

Goals for next month – what we’re looking forward to/excited about. Includes development, meetings, communication, etc.

The following is a summary of upcoming Business ZTC work for January:

  • Publish press release for Business ZTC.
  • Follow up with Marketing OER grantees.
  • Schedule a 3rd Advisory Group meeting to take place in January or February.
  • Deliver a presentation/workshop to the business department at North Island College with Florence Daddey (Douglas College) about OER in Business programs.
  • Planning for Accounting OER gap analysis/competency mapping.
  • Identify any new grants/projects to be supported with available funds.

Risks and Issues

Risk/IssueLevelMitigation
Timelines for projects may be impacted as a result of Covid-19 related delays.MedContinuing communication with project leads about timelines and providing support with Pressbooks will assist in keeping on track. Providing felxibility and support will be key to ensuring successful completion.
Work on Business ZTC projects will extend beyond the end of fiscal 2020/21. While existing funds will be distributed to institutions on time, they will require from BCcampus beyond March 31s, 2021MediumProject Manager roles will continue until Sept 2021 to provide that level of support.

Lessons Learned

List of things that went well and what improvements could be made.

It was exciting to see the ZTC at Douglas College become a reality. Work toward this started six months ago when Florence Daddey approached Melanie to speak to the business faculty at Douglas College about OER. After this two faculty members and a librarian began to map current OER adoptions in the General Business program and identify gaps. We met several times to discuss steps in filling those gaps and ultimately Douglas College was able to draft a successful application with realistic goals and timelines. This will be the first ZTC program at Douglas College.

Links and Resources

Include links to useful/related info such as slides from an update meeting, related projects or other resources of interest.

Business OER Slides (Oct 2020)

Business ZTC Advisory Group Slides (2020)