Textbook Affordability

The primary purpose of TBR's Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant Project is to increase equity in access to quality, no/low-cost educational materials. 

Tech was awarded this $30,000 grant in April 2021, which will end 6/30/2022.  The grant money will help train faculty and provide a faculty stipend ($2700) for transitioning courses from traditional textbooks to using OERs. 

Primary team:

• Mike Gotcher: Dean, College of Emerging and Integrative Studies
• Sharon Holderman: Library Coordinator of Public Services; Associate Professor
• Amy Miller: Assistant Director, Center for Global Experiences

Additional team members:

• Jason Beach: Interim Director, CITL; Associate Professor
• Jim Fry: Graduate Assistant, Professional Studies
• Faculty whose proposals were selected (see the Selected Proposals bar below)

Time Frame	Activity
June 1 - June 30, 2021	Faculty proposals open
July 2021	Review and select proposals; notify selected faculty
July - December 2021	Selected faculty attend grant workshops and work with grant team members to redesign course
December 2021	Selected faculty receive first half of stipend ($1350)
Spring Semester 2022	Selected faculty receive ongoing support from grant team members as needed; survey students in OER courses
March 7 - March 11, 2022	Open Education Week events
May 2022	Survey/interview selected faculty; distribute stipend remainder ($1350) after survey/interview
June 2022	Compile assessment data; share and promote results; OEN Summer Summit events

Faculty who wanted to transition a course from traditional textbooks to OERs submitted an online proposal to earn the grant-sponsored stipend of $2700 by the June 30, 2021, deadline.  In order to earn the stipend, faculty agreed to the following:

• Attend a grant-sponsored training workshop in Fall 2021
• Implement OERs into a Spring 2022 course so students' required cost for course materials is $0
• Complete the survey/interview after final grades are submitted in May 2022

The Spring 2022 classes and faculty selected for the grant to switch to OERs include:

• BMGT 3510, Alice Camuti
• ECON 2010, Sean Alley
• HEC 3011, Hannah Upole
• MATH 1530, Wendy Smith
• MET 1100, Avinash Paruchuri
• NURS 2300, Andrew Donadio
• PSY 1030, Doug Hensley
• RELS 2010, Rachel Wingo

Course	Professor	Sections	Enrollment	Textbook Costs*	Savings
BMGT 3510	Camuti	2	112	$240	$26,880
ECON 2010	Alley	2	169	$89	$15,041
HEC 3011	Upole	1	16	$113	$1,808
MATH 1530	Smith	2	168	$200	$33,600
MET 1100	Paruchuri	1	30	$100	$3,000
NURS 2300	Donadio	4	111	$246	$27,306
PSY 1030	Hensley	2	340	$134	$45,560
RELS 2010	Wingo	4	91	$100	$9,100
8	8	18	1037		$162,295

• Sparta news article about the grant (3/29/2022)

• Student survey results (6/2/2022)