University Libraries announces 10 winners of the 2023 Alternative Textbook Grant
Ten University of Oklahoma instructors have been awarded grants through the University Libraries, with some matching funds from university colleges and departments, to replace costly textbooks with freely available alternatives, potentially saving their students hundreds of dollars.
Now in its ninth year, the Alternative Textbook Grant (ATG) is an OU Libraries initiative that incentivizes instructors to adopt, modify, or create Open Educational Resources (OER), which are any type of educational materials in the public domain or openly licensed..
“It is one thousand percent easier to just grab something that already exists and is fine and is working and have the students sort of take on that cost, but it makes me a little bit uncomfortable to ask the students to take on that cost, especially as our world keeps changing in a way that makes everything more expensive,” says Casey Haskins, a 2022 ATG recipient and instructor in OU’s Math Department. “I just want to remove stress that comes from outside like their finances in order for them to really concentrate on what matters in the class, which is the content.”
“We have been pleased to see the increased awareness from both faculty and students regarding the cost of textbooks this academic year,” says Open Educational Resources Librarian Morgan Briles. “Applications for this year’s grant spanned six different colleges and will have a significant impact on students. Based on projected enrollment information, we’re estimating nearly $70,000 of cost savings for students for the first semester these alternative textbooks are implemented.”
Since 2014, the ATG has saved OU students millions of dollars in course material costs. OU Libraries awards up to $2,500 for successful applications, and some colleges award discretionary funds to supplement the total award amount.
This year’s grants range from $750 to $2,500 in funding from OU Libraries; the Dodge Family College of Arts & Sciences, Gallogly College of Engineering, and Schusterman Library at OU Tulsa contributed additional funding.
Recipients of OU Libraries’ 2023 Alternative Textbook Grant:
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture:
Dr. C. Aujean Lee, Assistant Professor of Regional and City Planning, will be replacing existing course materials for the Urban Planning Research Methods course with a combination of open educational resources and library materials.
Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences:
Dr. Melinda Chen, Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, will create an openly licensed resource on the qualitative data analysis software program NVivo for a new course, Feminist Methods.
Dr. Paulo Moreira, Associate Professor of Portuguese in the Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics Department, will be creating an online, multi-media textbook for the Intermediate Portuguese course.
Dr. Ying Wang, the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Presidential Professor in the Department of Mathematics, will be switching her graduate-level numerical analysis sequence (Advanced Numerical Analysis I and II) to open educational resources.
Gallogly College of Engineering:
Dr. J. David Baldwin, Associate Professor and Director of the Dynamic Structures Sensings and Controls Center in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, has already developed materials about ANSYS (software for structural mechanics analysis) and will be building upon those to create an openly licensed resource.
Dr. Jude Okolie, Assistant Professor of Engineering Pathways, will be creating an openly licensed resource on the ASPEN Plus software for the Mentored Research Experience course.
Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication:
Dr. Katerina Tsetsura, Gaylord Family Professor of Public Relations and Strategic Communication, will be eliminating commercial textbooks from the Global Public Relations course, replacing them with openly licensed materials that will be remixed and created.
Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education:
Dr. Amber Beisly, Assistant Professor of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum (ILAC) specializing in Early Childhood Education at OU-Tulsa, will be switching the Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood course from commercial textbooks to open educational resources.
Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts:
Dr. Ekaterini (Katerina) Akarepi, Lecturer in the School of Music, will be transforming the Middle Eastern Music course with openly licensed and more current materials to expand students’ understanding of music from the Middle East and North Africa region.
Dr. Lucia Colombari, Assistant Professor of Art History and Arts Management in the School of Visual Arts, will be enhancing the Understanding of Art course by replacing one of the textbooks with open educational resources and adding virtual reality components to give students an interactive art experience.
OU Libraries congratulates the 2023 ATG awardees for their commitment to student success, open education, and textbook affordability.
Recipients of OU Libraries’ 2023 Alternative Textbook Grant:
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture:
Dr. C. Aujean Lee, Assistant Professor of Regional and City Planning, will be replacing existing course materials for the Urban Planning Research Methods course with a combination of open educational resources and library materials.
Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences:
Dr. Melinda Chen, Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, will create an openly licensed resource on the qualitative data analysis software program NVivo for a new course, Feminist Methods.
Dr. Paulo Moreira, Associate Professor of Portuguese in the Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics Department, will be creating an online, multi-media textbook for the Intermediate Portuguese course.
Dr. Ying Wang, the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Presidential Professor in the Department of Mathematics, will be switching her graduate-level numerical analysis sequence (Advanced Numerical Analysis I and II) to open educational resources.
Gallogly College of Engineering:
Dr. J. David Baldwin, Associate Professor and Director of the Dynamic Structures Sensings and Controls Center in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, has already developed materials about ANSYS (software for structural mechanics analysis) and will be building upon those to create an openly licensed resource.
Dr. Jude Okolie, Assistant Professor of Engineering Pathways, will be creating an openly licensed resource on the ASPEN Plus software for the Mentored Research Experience course.
Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication:
Dr. Katerina Tsetsura, Gaylord Family Professor of Public Relations and Strategic Communication, will be eliminating commercial textbooks from the Global Public Relations course, replacing them with openly licensed materials that will be remixed and created.
Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education:
Dr. Amber Beisly, Assistant Professor of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum (ILAC) specializing in Early Childhood Education at OU-Tulsa, will be switching the Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood course from commercial textbooks to open educational resources.
Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts:
Dr. Ekaterini (Katerina) Akarepi, Lecturer in the School of Music, will be transforming the Middle Eastern Music course with openly licensed and more current materials to expand students’ understanding of music from the Middle East and North Africa region.
Dr. Lucia Colombari, Assistant Professor of Art History and Arts Management in the School of Visual Arts, will be enhancing the Understanding of Art course by replacing one of the textbooks with open educational resources and adding virtual reality components to give students an interactive art experience.
OU Libraries congratulates the 2023 ATG awardees for their commitment to student success, open education, and textbook affordability.