{"id":22958,"date":"2024-10-23T19:25:33","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T23:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2024\/10\/23\/new-grant-for-creation-of-free-class-materials-with-a-focus-on-career-readiness-and-ai\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:05:00","slug":"new-grant-for-creation-of-free-class-materials-with-a-focus-on-career-readiness-and-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/10\/23\/new-grant-for-creation-of-free-class-materials-with-a-focus-on-career-readiness-and-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"New Grant for Creation of Free Class Materials with a Focus on Career Readiness and AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haverhill, MA (October 22, 2024) \u2013 Northern Essex Community College continues to be at the forefront of reducing barriers for students through developing free course materials and textbooks, known as Open Educational Resources (OER).<\/a><\/p>\n

Framingham State University is the lead recipient of a new, $1.98 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to develop open-source textbooks for high-enrolling general education courses that are applicable across the Community College, State University, and UMass systems in Massachusetts. Framingham State has partnered with UMass-Lowell and NECC on the initiative, which is called the Career and AI Readiness while Remixing Open Textbooks through an Equity Lens (CA-ROTEL) project.<\/p>\n

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NECC Professor Lisette Espinoza’s OER textbook published through the ROTEL project<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis grant empowers faculty to create and customize learning materials that truly resonate with their students’ needs. By developing OER that incorporates AI and career readiness components, professors can adapt their teaching materials, collaborate across institutions, and ensure their curriculum stays current with rapidly evolving workplace demands,\u201d says Sue Tashjian, NECC\u2019s coordinator of instructional technology and leader of NECC\u2019s AI Task Force. Tashjian also serves as co-chair of the Massachusetts OER Advisory Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough initiatives like this, faculty can craft well-focused teaching materials while students benefit from culturally relevant, career-focused content that is freely available for them to access,\u201d underscores NECC Provost Paul Beaudin.<\/p>\n

OER textbooks are available online for free to anyone who would like to use them. The texts will be developed by faculty who teach the courses with a focus on making them culturally relevant to underserved populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity college students need barrier-free access to course materials that reflect both their lived experiences and the technological realities of their future careers,\u201d continues Tashjian.<\/p>\n

NECC President Lane Glenn emphasizes the timeliness of this new effort in preparing students for in-demand jobs across the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy embedding AI competency and career readiness into our OER, we are not just reducing costs \u2013 we are transforming how students prepare for success in an AI-driven future,\u201d says Glenn.<\/p>\n

The ultimate goals of the project are to:<\/p>\n