Supported in part by funding through the State of Minnesota Legislature and Minnesota State, Minnesota State announces its Z-degree Project participants for FY24-FY25. Z-degree courses for these participating campuses will be available by spring of 2025.
Z-degrees are a complete associate’s or bachelor’s degree program that exclusively use course resources that are no cost to students such as open educational resources (OER), open textbooks, and library-curated materials.
With these additions, seventeen Minnesota State campuses offer or are in-process of offering Z-degrees.
Exploration
The following colleges and universities received $25,000 to explore Z-degrees on their campuses to prepare a foundation for Z-degree development, such as faculty development, open textbook exploration and review, or building open textbook capacity in the transfer curriculum.
- Bemidji State University
- Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
- Minnesota State University Moorhead
- Rochester Community and Technical College
- St. Cloud State University
Implementation
The following colleges and universities received $100,000 to create, finalize, and implement a new Z-degree by spring of 2025.
- Minnesota State Community and Technical College
- Normandale Community College
Expansion
The following colleges and universities received $25,000 to increase the number and type of courses offered in an existing Z-degree, such as adding additional courses or course sections, and increasing the number of faculty using zero-cost course resources in a course already part of an existing Z-degree.
- Century College
- Minnesota North College
- Minnesota West Community and Technical College
Questions?
Contact Michael Olesen, Interim System Director for Student Success Technologies.
Learn more about Z-degrees and OER at Minnesota State at www.MinnState.edu/OER.