The LeCroy Center for Educational Telecommunications of Dallas County Community College District recently completed its Texas Freeware Project which was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). The project explored the concept of open courseware. The overall goal was to design and implement a process for providing free courseware to benefit students both academically and financially. While this innovative approach evidently reduced student and institutional courseware costs, it also attempted to track the affects that free courseware might have upon student retention and completion efforts of participating institutions. The project resulted in Open Educational Resources (OER) delivered through an iTunes U account as a sustainable, cost-effective model for other educational entities.   Visit Ed.gov for further FIPSE information.

Courseware offered at no cost to participating institutions during the 2009-2012 grant period: 

These courses, developed by the LeCroy Center prior to the grant, are pedagogically sound, available totally online and developed with Quality Matters© standards.  To access the Texas Freeware Project OER, select  iTunes U when logged into your iTunes account, then search for Dallas County Community College District. Additonal options for accessing OER content have been submitted for approval and will be made available as soon as possible.

For full course licensing information, email tlearn@dcccd.edu or contact Becky Stinson at 866.347.8576 or bstinson@dcccd.edu.

A special thank you to all of our participating institutions nationwide: Ashland University, Carroll Community College, Dallas TeleCollege, Delta College, Grayson county College, Kellogg Community College, Kilgore College, North Central Texas College, Northeast Texas College, San Jacinto College, St. Philip's College, Tarrant County College, and Tyler Junior College.