Getting access to physical textbooks has become more difficult during the pandemic. Campuses are closed to students, and the cost of textbooks is a growing barrier.

The North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) launched an online library of educational content in December to provide faculty and students with free digital materials to enhance teaching and learning.

The cloud-based openNCCC is an OER platform, also known as open education resources. The initiative enables educational entities to create, share and access a library of digital materials that can be modified to adjust to student and faculty needs. The platform will support new approaches to teaching and provide equitable access to quality educational materials throughout the state.

NCCCS has been promoting the use of OER for more than a decade. In 2007, the system initiated a learning object repository that allowed for the sharing of digital resources with its 58 colleges. Additional North Carolina educational institutions were invited to participate. The resulting repository became the North Carolina Learning Object Repository (NCLOR). This new site replaces NCLOR.

The site features more than 30,000 searchable educational resources, including documents, images and videos. It will allow instructors to easily collaborate with others to create and edit materials. The openNCCC platform allows users to import their materials directly into the platform.

NCCCS educators can create accounts and post materials or participate in collaboration through the site.

openNCCC specializes in providing openly licensed educational resources (OER). Not having to clear copyrighted digital materials for use in the classroom takes the burden off faculty and relieves the concern of potentially or unintentionally violating the law.

Content and free digital textbooks hosted by openNCCC can be embedded into courses and other learning materials, keeping the cost of education more affordable for students at North Carolina’s community colleges.

Read the full press release here.