Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Ten UNCG Professors Save Students $150,000 in Textbook Costs with $10,000 in Pilot Project Mini Grants from the Office of the Provost and the University Libraries

In the Spring of 2015 the Office of the Provost and the University Libraries announced that they would support a pilot project where faculty interested in providing their students with a less expensive yet educationally rewarding alternative known as OER (Open Educational Resources) to expensive commercial textbooks.  The results yielded quality teaching materials at a savings to students of $150,000 over the cost of buying new traditional textbooks.   Ten $1000 stipends were granted to faculty as an incentive to encourage the faculty to use low-cost or free alternatives to expensive course materials; these could include open-access scholarly resources, library-licensed and owned resources, and learning objects and texts that faculty create themselves.

Beth Bernhardt, representing the University Libraries, interviewed each winner before the Fall 2015 semester began and again at the end of the semester.  “Everyone was just as enthusiastic about the project at the end of the semester as they were at the beginning,” she says.  “All of the grant winners plan on continuing to use alternative resources for their classes for Spring 2016.”  Bernhardt continues, "We have wonderful faculty who are eager to find new ways to teach students while keeping their expenses as low as they can.  We were so pleased that our relatively small investment could reap such savings, and we encourage others to consider what using open educational resources can mean for their teaching and for their students."

Many of the professors were glowing in their praise of the idea of open educational resources, and so were their students.  Jennifer Reich  noted that “The resources I found are much better than the textbooks and the students can do more with them.”  Heather Helms said, “My class asked if we were going to have a textbook for the course, when I told them we would use alternative resources the entire class applauded.”  In Elizabeth Perrill’s course Survey of Non-Western Art, the textbook would have cost $171.00 new.  She has approximately 215 students take classes annually.  Total savings for all the students in her classes was thus $36,765.   Similar results with the other classes yielded an estimated $150,000 in aggregate savings to students as compared to buying the textbooks that would otherwise have been used in the classes.

 A survey was given to the students at the end of the semester and they were asked to share their thoughts about not having a textbook for the class, too. Typical comments included “Keep doing this please for I’m a broke college student,” and “I thought that the resources were very organized for the course and easy to access. I felt I studied more effectively with these resources and I greatly appreciate the way they were organized. It was easier to follow than a traditional textbook.”

The University Libraries, in its commitment to promote Open Educational Resources, has joined the Open Textbook Network.  This network promotes access, affordability, and student success through the use of open textbooks. The network will provide a workshop for UNCG faculty that are interested in supporting faculty adoption of open textbooks in the coming year.

If you are interested in learning more about Open Educational Resources check out the website http://uncg.libguides.com/oer  or contact Beth Bernhardt at beth_bernhardt@uncg.edu.

The winners of the grants were: 
•    Robert Anemone , Professor and Department Head, Anthropology; 
•    Heather Helms, Associate Professor, HDFS;
•    Channelle D. James, Lecturer, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality and Tourism - Bryan School;
•    Liz McNamara, Lecturer, Political Science;
•    Carrie A. Wachter Morris, Associate Professor, CED; 
•    Nancy Myers and Brenta Blevins (working together) , College Writing Program Director and Assistant Director, English;
•    Terence A Nile, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry;
•    Elizabeth Perrill, Associate Professor, Art;
•    Jennifer Reich, Associate Director/Lecturer, CASA/Art; and
•    Kelly L Wester, Associate Professor, CED.