Free and/or low-cost textbook alternatives can have a big impact on student success.
The Alt-Textbook Project, a collaborative initiative of the Egan Library and CELT, provides faculty development and advocacy to increase awareness of Open Educational Resources (OER) and the innovative teaching and learning opportunities these tools can facilitate. Students spend an average of $1,200 per year on texts, and according to a 2014 PIRG report, 7 out of 10 students have forgone purchasing college textbooks due to cost. Faculty use of OER signal an awareness of rising textbook prices and an effort to select course materials with student costs in mind.
Library faculty Jonas Lamb spearheaded the pilot Alt-Textbook Workshop series in 2015-2016, supported by Academic Innovation Funding. Five UAS faculty members (4 from Juneau, 1 from Ketchikan) from English, Education, Economics and Construction Technology completed the workshop. Each provided positive comments on the opportunity to collaborate with faculty outside of their departments, the dedicated time to explore and discover high quality and relevant open educational resources (OER) and discuss among peers the potential for adopting these resources as alternatives to traditional textbooks in their courses. Participants identified and reviewed 15 OER while also reading and providing annotations for 5 scholarly articles exploring OER in the context of pedagogy, efficacy, student engagement and scholarly communication. At least one participant indicated intent to adopt an open textbook for Fall 2016. Over the project’s first year, these efforts have saved students an estimated $20,000-30,000 on textbooks.
Project details, a resource list of OER reviewed by UAS faculty, and information about how to participate are available on the Alt-Textbook webpage.