Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Open Textbook Publishing: An Interview with Dr. Carmelo A. Galati

Open Education Week, ,
Image by Tom from Pixabay. 

Happy Open Education Week! During this week, we celebrate and advocate for open educational resources. Open educational resources (also called OER) are defined by SPARC as “teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, which also carry legal permission for open use.” These are teaching and learning materials — like videos, slide decks, podcasts, worksheets, and textbooks — that are free to access, use, share, and modify in the digital environment without copyright concerns because their creators have given others permission to do so. 

Why are open educational resources so important? For students, their biggest appeal is they are zero or low cost. Open textbooks can save students hundreds of dollars each semester. For faculty, OER offer an opportunity to craft course materials that are highly relevant, current, and meaningful for their discipline. In addition to remixing and modifying existing materials, faculty can create new materials or textbooks. 

North Broad Press logo

Temple University Libraries and University Press’s joint imprint North Broad Press provides Temple faculty with an opportunity to author their own open textbook. All North Broad Press titles are peer reviewed and freely available online. Check out a list of 17 open textbooks in progress. 

To learn more about why Temple faculty are driven to author an open textbook, we spoke with Dr. Carmelo A. Galati, Associate Professor of Instruction and the Co-Director of the Italian Studies Program at Temple University. Dr. Galati is the author a new open textbook, Gratis!: A Flipped-Classroom and Active Learning Approach to Italian, which is currently under review with North Broad Press. This textbook is intended for students with no previous knowledge of Italian.  

Why did you choose to write Gratis!: A Flipped-Classroom and Active Learning Approach to Italian as an open textbook?  

While leading a session on active learning for teachers of Italian at a professional workshop under the jurisdiction of the General Consulate of Italy in Philadelphia and the Italian Ministry of Education (October 2019), my colleague, Dr. Cristina Gragnani, and I discovered university students are not the only ones affected by the high and growing cost of language textbooks. High school programs are also facing issues and are unable to provide students with affordable educational tools to promote the Italian language and culture. Temple University’s Italian Studies program’s work within the Philadelphia community to disseminate Italian culture dates to the early 20th century. In support of that pioneering work educating students and promoting Italian culture, we created an open-access, introductory-level Italian textbook for Temple University students, as well as high school students in the greater Philadelphia area and beyond. Doing so makes foreign language study accessible to all and places Temple University at the forefront of internationalization at the secondary education and university levels. 

Tell us about the process of publishing this textbook with North Broad Press, the joint open access imprint of the Libraries and Temple University Press. 

Prior to Gratis! I did not have experience in textbook publications, as most of my writing projects dealt with peer-reviewed academic journals and edited volumes. Thanks to the guidance of Annie Johnson (former Assistant Director for Open Publishing Initiatives and Scholarly Communications), Mary Rose Muccie (Director, Temple University Press), and Alicia Pucci (Scholarly Communications Associate), the process has been a positive and rewarding experience. From the very first day of being contracted to author Gratis! everyone at North Broad Press has been very supportive and has shown great enthusiasm for the project. Whenever questions arose regarding copyright, formatting, use of videos, or anything in between, they were quick to respond by email and to schedule video conferences with me should I need further clarification.  

You chose a Creative Commons license for your textbook. Were you familiar with Creative Commons prior to this project?  

I was not familiar with Creative Commons (CC) prior to the project. As a language textbook, Gratis! is filled with lots of images to introduce, reinforce understanding of, and assess vocabulary knowledge of each lesson and unit. Creative Commons has made the inclusion of images much less stressful since I did not need to purchase individual licenses for the book’s photographs. Furthermore, in choosing a CC license for Gratis!, instructors who wish to adopt it are free to add more material. This may include new integrated grammar or vocabulary exercises that align with the context of each chapter. The CC license allows instructors to choose cultural reading materials to assess reading comprehension as well, since educators can write and add additional reading content to the book.  

You received an OER Development Grant from the PA GOAL program. Did this impact how you envision faculty and students using this textbook?   

The OER Development Grant supported the development of videos, images, and interactive H5P exercises that serve as ancillary materials and provide students with instant feedback. The grant provided funding for four undergraduate Italian majors (Aidan Giordano, Andrew Raker, Julia Rudy and Eileen Scanlan), studying at our Temple University Rome campus, working with two Italian faculty members and the Director of Student Activities (Daniela Curioso, Bruno Montefusco, and Gianni Marangio, respectively), to create original video content for each of the textbook’s chapters. The students’ contributions allow language learners to experience studying abroad virtually through videos that document their travels around Rome, provide a virtual campus tour of Villa Caproni (the building which houses the Temple Rome campus along the banks of the Tiber River), and record interviews with local Italian university students discussing differences between the American and Italian Educational system.  

Thanks to the OER Development Grant, Gratis! emulates the leading publishers in providing students with competencies that they will acquire by the completion of each chapter. Units include specific vocabulary that integrates grammar and culture lessons, while online ancillary materials provide students with additional support and instant feedback. 

All the unique videos, images, and H5P exercises that appear in Gratis! can be found in TUScholarShare’s Teaching and Learning Materials collection for download and reuse.    

What advice would you offer faculty who might be considering authoring an open textbook?  

If you are looking for a way to provide affordable educational tools for students and the opportunity to continuously reflect on and update best practices and initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, then authoring an open textbook is the way to go! Most Italian language textbooks contain microaggressions that endorse heteronormative culture and behaviors, promote traditional family planning, and ultimately present a false picture of the world in which we live. In writing Gratis! I have been able to represent diverse realities for Italian-language learners and to make the learning process inclusive to all! Gratis! does not promote stereotypes of traditionally conservative Italians. Instead, it teaches inclusive vocabulary regarding the LGBTQIA+ community. It presents students with language regarding places of worship for all faiths, not just Roman Catholicism. In its goal to represent Italy’s diverse realities, Gratis! depicts Italians of all cultures, races, and religions. 

Thank you, Dr. Galati! 

If you feel inspired to create an OER, Temple Libraries can support you! For more information about OER, visit our Discovering Open Educational Resources guide. Contact your subject librarian if you want help locating and implementing OER in your courses. If you’re interested in writing your own open textbook, contact Mary Rose Muccie (maryrose.muccie@temple.edu) and Alicia Pucci (alicia.pucci@temple.edu) for more information. 

Temple University Celebrates Open Education Week 2023

Textbook Affordability Project

Temple University Libraries is celebrating Open Education Week from February 27 to March 3, 2023. Open Education Week is an annual celebration designed to raise awareness about open educational resources and practices. 

What are Open Educational Resources and Practices? 

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are free to read and reuse. Examples of OER include videos, images, lab activities, homework assignments, and textbooks. Open educational practices — also known as open pedagogy — use OER to support learning and invite students to be active participants in the teaching and learning environment, engaging in knowledge creation and sharing. 

Faculty who use OER instead of a commercial textbook can help save students hundreds of dollars a semester. Faculty who use OER can revise, remix, and build upon the content created by others, customizing the material to meet the needs of their particular class. This can aid in bringing about a more culturally responsive teaching and learning experience. 


Open Education Week Events & Activities 

To mark Open Education Week, Temple University Libraries will be offering the following events and activities: 

Contest for Students 

  • Tell Us Your Textbook Affordability Story 
    Submit a true story about the most money you spent on textbooks in one semester. In a paragraph, audio/video clip, graphic design, or some photos, briefly share how this expense impacted you and what that money would have gone towards if you didn’t have to pay for textbooks. 
     
    You can win a day’s reservation to a study room in Charles Library or Ginsburg Library during final exams! Five winners will be randomly selected from all entries. Deadline to submit: March 17, 2023. 

Event for Faculty 

  • Waffle OPEN House 
    Our featured faculty event is a tasty one! You’ve heard of Waffle House. Join us on Wednesday, March 1 at Charles Library for Waffle OPEN House.  
     
    Come to Suite 375 in Charles Library between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm for waffles, pancakes, coffee, and more – along with informal discussions with our librarians about open education practices and how to incorporate them into your instructional practice.   

Online Workshops 

  • Textbook Affordability Project Application Information Session 
    Monday, February 27, 2023 | 12 pm | Register 
    Join us as we discuss the TAP grant award opportunities, application process, requirements, and answer any of your application questions. 
     
  • Using Open Educational Resources in the Classroom 
    Tuesday, February 28, 2023 | 12 pm | Register 
    In this workshop aimed at faculty and teaching graduate students, we will provide an introduction to the world of open educational resources. We’ll discuss how to find high quality OER in your discipline and show you how these materials can be customized to suit the needs of your particular class and improve student success. 
     
  • Copyright and Creative Commons 
    Tuesday, February 28, 2023 | 1 pm | Register 
    Join us as we cover the basics of Creative Commons licenses—what they are, how to find CC-licensed material, and how to license your own work. 
     
  • Sharing Your Teaching and Learning Materials with TUScholarShare 
    Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | 1 pm | Register 
    Temple’s institutional repository, TUScholarShare, provides free online access to textbooks, syllabi, slide decks, tutorials, videos and more created by faculty and staff. In this workshop, you will learn about the benefits of sharing your materials and how to make them open and freely available online to teachers and learners beyond Temple. 
     
  • How to Promote Your Open Scholarship 
    Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 12 pm | Register 
    This workshop will cover strategies how faculty can promote for promoting their open scholarship. This will cover building a scholarly profile, where to store your work, how to showcase your work on social media, and how to express this hard work in the promotion and tenure process. 

Accepting Applications for the Textbook Affordability Project Grant! 

Open Education Week is also a great time to learn more about Temple University Libraries’ Textbook Affordability Project, which provides grants ranging from $500 to $1,500 to faculty who adopt, adapt, or create free alternatives to commercial educational resources. Engaging in open educational practices, like replacing a traditional assignment with a renewable assignment, is also an option. Applications are being accepted until April 7, 2023. 

We hope you will join us for our Open Education Week events! 

Check to See if the Library Has Your Textbook

Uncategorized
“25/50 – textbooks” by THEMACGIRL* available via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Did you know that each semester the Libraries provides a list of textbooks and other course readings that are available as ebooks? The list is based on information Temple faculty provide to the campus bookstore. These materials are free for Temple students. Use the drop-down menu to find your course and see if your etextbook is on the list!

The Libraries is not always able to purchase ebooks, as many textbook publishers do not make their titles available to libraries electronically. When a book is available to us, we prefer to purchase a multi-user license for something we know will be used in a class, though we will buy a single-user license if that is the only option. 

Since 2017, Temple University Libraries has been purchasing ebook copies of course texts whenever possible.  

Temple University Support of Open for Climate Justice: An Interview with Caroline Burkholder  

Open Access Week, Uncategorized, ,

This week is Open Access Week, a yearly international celebration that aims to increase awareness about open access. Most academic work is locked up behind a paywall, available only to those who are affiliated with a college or university. Open access scholarship is completely free to read and reuse. Help us celebrate by showing your support for OA on social media or by attending one of our events. 

Caroline Burkholder is the Sustainability Manager for Temple University’s Office of Sustainability. She is responsible for developing sustainability programming throughout the university, coordinating outreach and capacity building activities with students, faculty, and staff, providing support for new sustainability initiatives on campus, and assisting in the completion of institution-wide sustainability reporting. Burkholder recently spoke with Scholarly Communications Associate Alicia Pucci to discuss her work and how open can support climate justice and sustainability at Temple and beyond. 

Help us to understand this year’s theme, Open for Climate Justice. What is climate justice and what should people know about it? 

Climate justice is both a term and a movement centering equity in the application of sustainability principles in policy and practice. Climate justice recognizes that the social, material, and health impacts of a changing climate will be felt differently by different populations and will disproportionately impact poor and historically underrepresented and resource-deprived communities.  

Unsurprisingly, people living in developing countries produce fewer emissions per capita than those in the major polluting countries while bearing the brunt of the consequences with less power and fewer resources for mitigation and relief.  

This disparity in experience is not naturally occurring but rather the conclusion of a racist and colonial extractive global economic system. Climate justice focuses its attention on the structural contributors to crisis, understanding climate change will exacerbate existing inequality and social action is necessary to demand restorative justice and correct past wrongs to ensure future prosperity. 

What role does open play in your work with Temple’s Office of Sustainability? 

The Office of Sustainability was founded to achieve Temple’s Presidential Climate Commitment – climate neutrality by 2050 – by greening the physical plant and decarbonizing campus operations; integrating sustainability principles into coursework, teaching, co-curricular activities and campus life; and facilitating research and resources to educate on critical issues of climate change and environmental justice. 

As Philadelphia’s only 4-year public university, an urban institution that is deeply engaged in the community, we recognize the Temple University’s commitment to sustainability can have a profound impact on the health and quality of life of a large and diverse population within Temple and its surrounding community and the Philadelphia overall.  

Open access and the availability of knowledge and resources is essential for solving pressing urban sustainability challenges, especially here in our own neighborhood. Our office engages with other sustainability professionals both inside and outside the academy, in city and state government, and across the region, country and globe to share best practices and strategize to reach our shared goal of decreasing emissions and building resiliency in communities, especially those who need it most.  

An open and equitable exchange of ideas in climate action yields a diverse collection of data: climate action plan goals, various institutional reports, greenhouse gas inventories, waste audits, faculty and student research, student tools for community organizing and advocacy, engagement, campaign and event strategy documents, maps of sustainable features and amenities on campus, and more.     

Temple has a detailed climate action plan. Are there any open tools or practices you hope to adopt to enable climate research and data?  

Temple University’s Climate Action Plan and its goals were mandated by President Ann Weaver Hart signing onto Second Nature’s American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Among other foundational actions like setting target dates and calculating our carbon footprint, the ACUPCC commitment requires the university to make the action plan, inventory, and progress reports publicly available, underscoring the value of open access. The visibility of data and progress to goal reports is essential for all university stakeholders to ensure accountability for action, especially for those goals concerning equity. 

Another key function of the Climate Action Plan document is to increase awareness of Temple’s sustainability initiatives and programs. When faculty and other university leadership understand what we’re doing on campus and how they can take part, they can translate the local climate action work at all levels of Temple administration, and within different academic disciplines, into community engaged research and experiential and service learning which increases access to research and data and promotes climate justice.      

The 2019 Climate Action Plan had the following goal: 

Create an online repository for existing and future sustainability exercises and course material to assist faculty in integrating sustainability into their courses by June 2020.    

In 2022, in accordance with the research goals outlined in the 2019 Climate Action Plan, the Office of Sustainability, together with Temple University Libraries, established the Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Justice Collection for TUScholarShare. 

Tell us about your new Climate Change, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice collection in Temple’s institutional repository TUScholarShare. How does this platform encourage open practices?

The collection is a repository for articles, teaching and learning materials, data sets, research, books, and working papers related to climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice authored by researchers, staff, and students at Temple University. It features practitioners’ documents, namely, case studies and tools authored by sustainability officers and other institutional stakeholders as well as faculty, graduate and undergraduate research. 

By recognizing, incentivizing and connecting the faculty community, the repository facilitates a institution-wide development of a transdisciplinary sustainability science research agenda that integrates discovery and solutions-based research. 

This open access repository creates support for sustainability research, tools, and resources by not only connecting sustainability scholars and practitioners within Temple community but also by connecting the work of the Temple community to the broader local and global coalition of climate advocates by sharing knowledge and collaboratively building a just climate future for Philadelphia and beyond.  

Thank you Caroline!

Tell Your Affordable Textbook Story!

Events,

stack of textbooks
“25/50 – textbooks” by THEMACGIRL* available via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Enter for a chance to win a day of a reserved study room during final exams!

Using your preferred medium (text, video, audio, photos, or designed graphic), tell a true story of a professor who saved you money by using free course materials or textbooks. What was the course? Who was the professor? How did that impact your learning in the class or your savings outside of it?

Five winners will be randomly selected from all entries. Winners may select their date and library location (Charles Library or Ginsburg Library). The study room must be used M–F, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, April 26–April 29 or on May 2.

Deadline to submit: March 28, 2022.

Use this form to submit your story

Temple University Celebrates Open Education Week 2022

Events, Textbook Affordability Project

Open Education Week header logo

Temple University Libraries is celebrating Open Education Week from March 7-11, 2022. Open Education Week is an annual celebration designed to raise awareness about open educational resources and practices.

What are Open Educational Resources and Practices?

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are free to read and reuse. Examples of OER include videos, images, lab activities, homework assignments, and textbooks. Open educational practices — also known as open pedagogy — use OER to support learning and invite students to be active participants in the teaching and learning environment, engaging in knowledge creation and sharing.

Faculty across Temple’s schools and colleges are using OER in their classes. Faculty often assign OER in order to make their course materials more affordable for students. By choosing an open textbook instead of a commercial textbook, faculty can save students hundreds of dollars a semester. 

Another benefit for faculty is that OER are openly licensed, which means that faculty can revise, remix, and build upon the content created by others, customizing the material to meet the needs of their particular class. This can aid in bringing about a more culturally responsive teaching and learning experience.

There are many tools available to help identify OER, like the Open Textbook Library and OER Commons. Temple faculty can also use Temple’s Open and Affordable Learning Materials Inventory to see which faculty members are already using OER and other zero-cost learning materials in place of traditional commercial textbooks as well as obtain suggestions for affordable learning materials to adopt. Only Temple faculty/staff can view the Inventory; it is not available to the general public.

Open Education Week Events & Activities

To mark Open Education Week, Temple University Libraries will be offering the following virtual activities:

Contest

  • Tell Your Affordable Textbook Story
    Submit a story about a time when a professor saved you money in a course. You can win a day’s reservation to a study room in Charles Library or Ginsburg Library during final exams! Deadline to submit: March 18, 2022.

Workshops 

Accepting Applications for the Textbook Affordability Project Grant!

Open Education Week is also a great time to learn more about Temple University Libraries’ Textbook Affordability Project, which provides grants ranging from $500 to $1,500 to faculty for adopting, adapting, or creating free alternatives to commercial educational resources, in addition to exploring open educational practices. Applications are being accepted until April 8, 2022.

We hope you will join us for our Open Education Week events!

Building Bridges Toward Open Textbooks

Publishing, ,
Neon sign that says 'Open'
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Happy Open Education Week! During this week, we celebrate and advocate for open educational resources. Open educational resources (also called OER) are defined by the Hewlett Foundation as “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.” In a nutshell, these are learning materials — like videos, slide decks, podcasts, worksheets, and even textbooks — that are free to access, use, share, and modify in the digital environment without copyright headaches because their creators have given others permission to do so.

Why are open educational resources so important that they are celebrated for an entire week? Their biggest appeal — for students — is they are zero or low-cost! Open textbooks especially can save students hundreds of dollars each semester. For faculty, OER is an opportunity to craft course materials that are highly relevant, current, and meaningful to their discipline. While faculty can remix and modify existing materials, there is also an opportunity for faculty to create new materials or textbooks!

North Broad Press logo

At Temple University Libraries and University Press, we’re lucky to have the North Broad Press imprint. All North Broad Press titles are scholarly works that are peer reviewed and freely available online. View a list of open textbooks in progress, and consider applying to their call for proposals for faculty-authored textbooks, which comes with a stipend of $5,000.

Cover of Bridges open textbookTo learn a little more about why Temple faculty are driven to author an open textbook, we sat down with Shawn Higgins, Academic Coordinator of the Undergraduate Bridge Program at Temple University’s Japan Campus. Shawn is the author of the brand new open textbook, Bridges: United States Academia for First-Generation and International College Students (Temple UP, 2021). This textbook was written for first generation students and English language learners to help them navigate life at United States colleges and universities.

Higgins headshotWe encourage you to listen to this 27-minute interview to learn why Shawn authored this textbook, what it was like to work with North Broad Press, and why open educational resources and open textbooks are so important to Shawn as a faculty member.

 

Listen to the entire interview or jump to a section that interests you!

  • Why write Bridges as an open textbook  [1:40]
  • Process of producing this textbook with Temple’s North Broad Press [5:58]
  • Discussion of remix elements found in the textbook [10:27]
  • Familiarity with Creative Commons prior to this project [12:12]
  • How the metaphor in the textbook’s title relates to open textbooks/open educational resources [14:14]
  • How faculty and students can use this textbook [18:34]
  • Advice to faculty who might be considering authoring an open textbook [23:40]

If you feel inspired after listening to this interview, please know that you have support here at Temple Libraries! For more information about OER, visit our Discovering Open Educational Resources guide. Contact your subject librarian if you want help locating and implementing OER in your courses. If you’re interested in writing your own open textbook, respond to the call for North Broad Press book proposals.

Don’t forget to check out Shawn’s textbook. You can read the book on your browser or device or download the book in PDF and EPUB formats. Share your thoughts about this book on social media with the hashtag: #bridgestextbook.

Temple University Celebrates Open Education Week 2021

Events, Textbook Affordability Project

Open Education Week 2021 banner

Temple University Libraries is celebrating Open Education Week March 1-5. Open Education Week is a yearly celebration designed to raise awareness about open educational resources and practices.

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are free to read and reuse. Examples of OER include videos, problem sets, slides, and textbooks. Open educational practices — also known as open pedagogy — use OER to support learning and invite students to be part of the teaching process, participating in the co-creation of knowledge.

At Temple, faculty across the schools and colleges are using OER in their classes. Faculty often assign OER in order to make their courses more affordable for students. By choosing an open textbook instead of a commercial textbook, for example, faculty can potentially save students hundreds of dollars a semester.

Another benefit for faculty is that OER are openly licensed, which means that faculty can revise, remix, and build upon the content, customizing the material to meet the needs of their particular class. There are many tools available to help identify OER, like the Open Textbook Library and OER Commons.

To mark Open Education Week, Temple University Libraries will be offering the following virtual activities:

Copyright and Creative Commons Licenses Workshop

  • Tuesday, March 2, 12:00-12:30PM
  • Join us as we cover the basics of Creative Commons licenses—what they are, how to find CC-licensed material, and how to license your own work. It’s simple and empowering.
  • Register at https://charlesstudy.temple.edu/calendar/workshops/cc

Finding Video for Teaching & Learning Workshop

  • Thursday, March 4, 12:00-12:30PM
  • Educational videos have become a critical part of health education, providing an important content-delivery tool in flipped, blended, and online classes. Come learn what resources are available to you through the library to use in your classroom – online or onsite. 
  • Register at https://ginsburgstudy.temple.edu/event/7301667 

Assignments that Live Beyond the Course: Student Success and Engagement through Open Pedagogy Workshop Series (co-sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching)

  • Thursday, March 4, 11:00AM- 12:30PM
  • Thursday, March 11, 11:00AM-12:30PM
  • Thursday, March 18, 11:00AM-12:30PM
  • Join us for this three-part, interactive workshop where you will learn the theory of Open Pedagogy, get ideas for possible renewable activities/assignments, and put it into practice by revising one of your own assignments.
  • Register at https://catbooking.temple.edu/event/7456527

Open Education Week is also a great time to learn more about Temple University Libraries’ Textbook Affordability Project which provides grants ranging from $500 to $1500 to faculty for adopting, adapting, or creating free alternatives to commercial educational resources, in addition to exploring open pedagogical practices. Applications will be accepted in Fall 2021.

We hope you will join us for our Open Education Week events!

Temple University Celebrates Open Education Week 2020

Events, Textbook Affordability Project

OE Week 2020 Banner

Temple University Libraries is celebrating Open Education Week March 9-13.  Open Education Week is a yearly celebration designed to raise awareness about open educational resources. Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are free to read and reuse. Examples of OER include videos, problem sets, slides, and textbooks.

At Temple, faculty across the schools and colleges are using OER in their classes. Faculty often assign OER in order to make their courses more affordable for students – by choosing an open textbook instead of a commercial textbook, for example, faculty can potentially save students hundreds of dollars a semester. Another benefit for faculty is it that OER are openly licensed, which means that faculty can remix and build upon the content, customizing the material to meet the needs of their particular class.

To mark Open Education Week, Temple University Libraries will be offering the following activities:

Temple OER Faculty Virtual Exhibit
March 9-13, all day
Charles Library, First Floor
This virtual exhibit profiles a few of the many Temple faculty who are using open educational resources in their courses, focusing on current and past Textbook Affordability Project awardees as well as faculty currently publishing open textbooks with North Broad Press. Read additional accounts from more faculty listed on our blog.

Open Education Tools and Methods Posters Series
March 9-13, all day
Charles Library, 3rd Floor, Digital Scholars Studio
Visit our poster series featuring mapping with QGIS, data analysis with R, network analysis with Gephi, 3D modelling with Blender, and simulation learning with PhET. DSS representatives will be present between 12:00-1:00PM to answer any questions.

Using Open Textbooks in the Classroom Workshop
Tuesday, March 10, 12:30-1:30PM
Charles Library, 4th Floor, room 401
We’ll provide an introduction to the world of open educational resources. We’ll discuss how to find high quality open textbooks in your discipline, and show you how these books can be customized to suit the needs of your particular class.
Register at https://library.temple.edu/events/839

Open Education Grad/Faculty Coffee Hour
Wednesday, March 11, 12:00-2:00PM
Charles Library, 4th Floor Graduate and Faculty Study
Join us for coffee hour in the Graduate and Faculty Study in celebration of Open Education Week!

And, a little later in the month, we’ll be featuring a hands-on workshop focused on locating, mixing, and creating open educational course materials with LibreTexts.

Open Education Week is also a great time to learn more about Temple University Libraries’ Textbook Affordability Project which provides awards ranging from $500 to $1500 to faculty for adopting or creating free alternatives to commercial educational resources. Applications will be accepted until March 25.

We hope you will join us for our Open Education Week events!

Highlighting Temple TAP Awardees

As part of Temple University Libraries’ celebration of Open Education Week, we’d like to highlight some of the many Temple faculty who have been awarded a grant via the Textbook Affordability Project to adopt an open textbook, adapt content available through the library, or create an open educational resource/open assignment. Some Temple faculty are also working with our North Broad Press to create an open textbook. Since 2011, the TAP has granted awards to over 85 faculty across nearly every discipline at Temple University and saved students over one million dollars!

Interested in learning more? Take a look at some of these ideas and example projects; reach out to the subject librarian serving your discipline, or for more information on open educational resources (OER), please visit Discovering Open Educational Resources.

Abdullah headshotQuaiser Abdullah, Communication and Social Influence, Klein College of Media and Communication

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
CSI 2401: Intercultural/Cross-Cultural Conflict 

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Primarily to provide accessibility to students (cost and availability).

How did OER help your students?
It definitely saves them money. It allowed all students to have access to the materials (even if they did not have technology at home) they had access on campus or anywhere there was technology available. It allowed them to interact with the materials outside of class without having to carry texts to various places.

Anni headshotEleni Anni, Biology, College of Science and Technology

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
My Textbook Affordability Project award was for a proposal to switch from a textbook based course to a non-textbook taught course which would take advantage of the expanding Open Education Resources. The course BIOL3354: Neural Basis of Behavior is taken by CST majors in Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience, and Biology students, as well as by CLA and Engineering students.

I am using increasingly OERs to supplement the textbook material in the other courses I teach:

    • BIOL3352: Systems Neuroscience 
    • BIOL3358: Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience 
    • BIOL3361: Molecular Neuropharmacology 
    • BIOL3380: Regenerative Biology, a course I designed in 2019 is based entirely on literature articles and OERs

In addition, I have used OERs for BIOL3080: Directed Readings in Molecular Neuropharmacology and supervised Research in Neuroscience projects (BIOL 3082, BIOL 4391, and BIOL 4591).

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Textbooks for a course are usually underused. In my experience only 1/3 of the textbook chapters is used for a course. The content of the remaining 2/3 of the textbook does not align well with our courses. OERs offer a variety of teaching material to fit different levels of learning students in a classroom.

How did OER help your students?
Use of OERs help students save money spent otherwise on underused textbooks which in my field become also outdated in a couple of years.

Brown headshotDavid Brown, Advertising and Public Relations, Klein College of Media and Communication

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I have used open educational resources in my capstone public relations courses…along with my special topics course, “Politics, Power and PR” and our Bateman competition class which is among the most rigorous campaign capstone course that routinely attracts our highest performing public relations students.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
I chose open educational resources because the information in the field is changing so rapidly that most textbooks are obsolete as soon as they are published. By using OER, we get the most current information and expertise in the industry that a student can immediately apply to their work…just as it works in the real world.

How did OER help your students?
Open educational resources helped my students by helping them to refine their research skills while eliminating a financial barrier that often comes with having to buy expensive textbooks that they may not use beyond the class. It also helped me to stay plugged into the most recent scholarly and industry research in keeping my own skills sharp and nimble.

Caliendo headshotGuillermo Caliendo, Communication and Social Influence, Klein College of Media and Communication

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
CSI 3896: Rhetorical Criticism

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Because it makes readings and exercises much more accessible to students.

How did OER help your students?
It has helped my students educationally and financially.

Chang headshotIsabelle Chang, Psychology, College of Liberal Arts

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
My proposals were accepted by the Temple University Library’s Textbook Affordability Project to use open educational resources (OER) for PSYCH 1003: Statistics for Psychology (2017) and PSYCH 0825: Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (2018). I have now adopted OER for all of my courses this year.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
The benefits of OER go far beyond saving money. The results of studies* based on my own classes show that:

    • Final grades in the OER class were on a par with the traditional textbook class.
    • OER equalize student engagement and performance by narrowing the dispersions of page views, on-time assignment submissions (OTAS), attendance, and final grades.
    • OER increased attendance and lessened excessive dependence on learning management system (LMS) course materials recorded in the traditional class.
    • The indirect effect of attendance on final grades was stronger than the direct effect of OTAS in the OER class, indicating students can better assimilate course content and comprehend lectures when they had access to textbooks, thanks to the “same page” effect. In contrast, attendance could not generate as much of an indirect effect when mediating OTAS on final grades in the traditional textbook class.
    • Furthermore, moderation test results suggest that the availability of textbooks is a factor influencing student course success.

It appears that OER are more important than ever in elevating overall student academic success.

How did OER help your students?
The “same page” effect of OER might be the most beneficial one for students. Instructors can project the text on the projector interchange with their teaching notes on the PowerPoint slides and/or other instructional related technology or devices. Instructors should encourage students to have the OER text on their laptop so that they can follow the instructor on what is being discussed in the lecture and where to locate the full materials in the text. Hence, the instructor and students are on the “same page” which contributes to better assimilation of course content and comprehension of lectures.

*The manuscript of this study has been accepted for publication in one of the journals in higher education. In addition, this study has been presented in the following conferences:

    • AAC&U’s General Education, Pedagogy, and Assessment conference, February 20-22, 2020 in Jacksonville, FL.
    • The 18th Annual Faculty Conference on Teaching Excellence, Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Temple University, January 7, 2020.
    • OpenCon Philly, Temple University, November 1, 2019.

Whitney Collins, Advertising, Klein College of Media and Communication

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
ADV 1004: Introduction to Marketing

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
I was sensitive to two emerging trends. First was the rising costs of a college education of which texts are a component. Second was the availability of quality, online, peer-reviewed open sources. My interest was piqued by Temple University who challenged me to think about how to leverage open educational resources in a meaningful way.

How did OER help your students?
I’d like to think there were several benefits the students experienced, as class evaluations and feedback suggested. Two would be personal finances and academic achievement. (1) Personal finance, meaning for the course there was no investment required for texts. All resources were open and virtual. Students saved money! (2) Academic achievement because over the course of the term the students actually collaborated to write their own Intro to Marketing Primer. This class developed text was a reference for their ‘open book’ final exam – a built-in incentive for them to ensure their work was thorough and accurate. They did a great job!!

Corrales Martin headshotNorma Corrales Martin, Spanish, College of Liberal Arts

*Norma is currently publishing an open textbook with North Broad Press.

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I have used an Open Educational Resource in my Spanish Conversational Review class, a fourth semester class, that stresses conversation using the vocabulary and structures used in previous semesters.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
I have been teaching Spanish using music for more than 20 years. I put together my experience and knowledge of Latin music to create a textbook based entirely on songs that review a particular Spanish structure and that can address a communicative goal.

How did OER help your students?
Some of the students comments had to do with saving money by not buying a textbook, a more targeted learning experience, the syllabus and course materials were together in one place and more real life Spanish.

Hope Culver headshotSherri Hope Culver, Media Studies and Production, Klein College of Media and Communication

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
MSP1655: The Business of Media

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
The course deals with topical issues in the media industry. There is simply no way for a textbook to respond quickly enough to the changes happening in the industry each year.

How did OER help your students?
Of course, the #1 way it helped my students was in cost savings. They didn’t have to purchase a textbook. (Although I did encourage students to assess their own learning methods and print the alternate materials if they felt that would improve their ability to learn.)

It also sent a message to the students that the course and my approach was going to be topical and “of the moment” as much as possible. Using open educational resources allowed us to use sources that dealt with more recent acquisitions or financial situations, changes in media content and programming, etc.

And, students were able to easily access all course materials wherever they were since all materials were available online. It also allowed me to more easily incorporate podcasts and other media content as assignments.

Dzomba headshotBari Dzomba, Health Services Administration and Policy, College of Public Health

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
Master of Science in Health Informatics Program, Course HIM 5129: Health Data Analytics

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
The field of health informatics, and sub-discipline data science is a fast moving field and traditional learning materials such as textbooks quickly become obsolete as new tools and methodologies are designed. It just made sense to utilize open educational resources for this particular course as there is an abundant amount of material available given the very nature of open source software.

How did OER help your students?
Our students will be entering the job market with skills in leading analytics software and methods without any additional cost for the students.

Faunce headshotRob Faunce, English, College of Liberal Arts

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
ENGL 0802: Analytical Reading and Writing
ENGL 0922: Shakespeare in the Movies
ENGL 2696: Technical Writing

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Open educational resources strengthen our classes by allowing students access to sustainably reusable, high-quality materials that enhance their educational experience at no cost.

How did OER help your students?
Students can access material at any time from anyplace in the world, which aligns with our faster-paced and technological-driven world

Flynn headshotNatalie Flynn, Earth and Environmental Science, College of Science and Technology

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
EES 0836: Disasters: Geology V Hollywood
EES 0837: Evolution and Extinction
EES 2001: Physical Geology 

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Over my many years of teaching, I discovered an increasing number of students did not have access to the educational materials. Many science courses require/request more than one textbook due to the lecture/lab style. The lack of access to quality learning materials created an intolerable educational gap that degraded my intended pedagogical style. After various attempts to fill these gaps, I became involved in the Textbook Affordability Project, thanks to Steven Bell and his wonderful team.

How did OER help your students?
As a result of knowing that all of my students have access to quality learning materials, I have been able to incorporate active and student centered learning practices. Students are able (required) to read and review material before and outside of class which allows for richer topic discussions and so much more.

Fukawa-Connelly headshotTim Fukawa-Connelly, Middle Secondary Education, College of Education

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
EDUC 1017: College Algebra

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
I am committed to lowering the cost for students in order to make a high-quality education more affordable and accessible. Moreover, given the plethora of high-quality OER resources that have been developed, especially in mathematics, it makes sense to do so. The College Algebra textbook is typically used for only a semester, and, when it was costing above $100, and, used or rental options were not meaningfully cheaper due to the alignment with the publisher’s online bundle (including an online homework system). The primary work was to find and align our work with another homework portal that would be free to the students!

How did OER help your students?
As always, lowering the barrier to participation allows students immediate access. They all had their text on the first day. They were all able to use the homework portal all semester! Sometimes, in the past, they would register for a free trial which would expire, and then they would be locked out for a while until they could afford to buy access. Or, they would create a second account, and no longer have access to prior work, or… In short, students were more prepared, more able to do their work, and, we’ve been quite happy with the results.

Harper headshotChris Harper, Journalism, Klein College of Media and Communication

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
JRN 3101: Journalism Law and Ethics

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
The cost of textbooks in a law course run nearly $100, which I decided was asking too much for the students to pay. Even the used books ran at least $70.

How did OER help your students?
The main help was elimination of the textbook, but the open educational resource also allowed me to provide digital access to the materials without a copyright problem.

Higgins headshotShawn Higgins, Academic Coordinator for Bridge Program, Temple University Japan

*Shawn is currently publishing an open textbook with North Broad Press.

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
AMST 0862: First Person America
TUJ 1001: Bridge Seminar
TUJ 1002: Academic Research for International Students

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Knowledge shouldn’t be behind a paywall! If people want to learn, then let them learn!

How did OER help your students?
The free e-textbook I wrote replaced a $90 textbook, saving my class of around 20 new students $1,800 each semester. I lightened backpacks and saved trees by adopting a free e-textbook. Less postural imbalance and more carbon dioxide filtering!

Jacobson headshotSara Jacobson, Trial Advocacy, Beasley School of Law

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
We used an open educational resource for the Integrated Trial Advocacy Program, Introduction to Trial Advocacy, and for a section of Introduction to Trial Advocacy that we teach to students from China in our international LLM program each summer.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Once we knew the resource was available, this was an easy choice. We want to save students money where we can.

How did OER help your students?
This helped our students two ways. First and foremost, it saved them the cost of buying the book. Secondly, because the resource was available online, it was available to them any time they had access to the internet, without worrying about whether they had their book with them.

Laufgraben headshotJodie Levine Laufgraben, Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies, College of Education

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I do not require a textbook in any of my courses. I participated in the Textbook Affordability Project when I created my Introduction to Higher Education course.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
The students in my Introduction to Higher Education course read all primary source documents that are available as open educational resources. There are textbooks that cover the history of higher education but I wanted to expose students to documents that provide students with a sense of what was being written and said about higher education through time. For example, they read the actual charters of institutions, magazine articles about student life on campus and court cases.

How did OER help your students?
Students gained a better sense of the different periods in American Higher Education by reading materials from the different eras. Also, they get exposed to different types of documents from news stories to government reports to videos.

Neel headshotJaclyn Neel, Greek and Roman Classics, College of Liberal Arts

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I use open educational resources to some degree in every class that I teach. If there is an open resource available that is as good as the traditional resource, I will choose open every time.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
OER are more accessible, in every sense of the word. I want my students to not only learn about the many amazing resources available for my discipline (Classics, the ancient world of Greece and Rome), but also to learn how to approach these resources in an informed and educated way. I also want them to be able to share their learning experience with friends and family outside the classroom, and to be able to revisit topics of interest after the semester ends!

How did OER help your students?
Not only do I save students money, but I can also enrich their educational experience. In Latin this year, I was able to introduce short videos. Everyone thinks Latin is a dead language, but in my class we watch movies that let students learn Latin by taking tours of ancient Rome!

Neuber headshotAmanda Neuber, Honors Program

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
Honors Introduction to Psychology

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Three reasons: to help alleviate the significant financial burden of purchasing traditional textbooks – books that are outdated almost as soon as they are printed; to destigmatize the idea that open source materials are less reliable or credible; and, to serve as an advocate for use of open source materials in all Honors classes.

How did OER help your students?
Students were appreciative of an online open-source textbook because of the accessibility, sustainability, and cost savings. Furthermore, since it lives online and could be edited or updated at anytime, the examples used to illustrate theories were current and interesting.

Nypaver headshotAlisha Nypaver, Music Studies, Boyer College of Music and Dance

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I developed an alternative textbook with listening guides for my World Musics and Cultures class and I adopted an OER textbook for the online sections of Exploring Music.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
I used to use a $69 online eBook platform for the Exploring Music courses and every semester I would get emails from students saying that they couldn’t afford the book so the had to drop the course.

How did OER help your students?
The OER book wasn’t perfect, but it provided a solid foundation upon which I could build a more robust and customized book that I was able to embed directly into Canvas. Students really appreciate not having to spend additional money to purchase a text and like the convenience of having everything on one page instead of having to link out to a publisher site.

Phillips headshotJacqueline Phillips, Kinesiology, College of Public Health

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
KINS 1221 & 1222: Principles of Anatomy I and II 

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
My primary goal in choosing an open textbook was to cut down cost for my students. Our former textbook bundle was very expensive and did not match our learning objectives for these courses very well so I looked at integrating an open educational resource as an opportunity to improve several aspects of these courses.

How did OER help your students?
Not only has the affordability of this course greatly increased, but now I have the ability to edit our textbook. This has enabled me to cut out sections of the textbook that are not relevant to our learning objectives while also adding materials to supplement certain topics. Molding our textbook has drastically increased the clarity of focus for students. Now my students have a much easier time reading the text and have overall been more successful with our courses.

Pratt headshotGary Pratt, Intellectual Heritage, College of Liberal Arts

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I’ve use open educational resources in both my Intellectual Heritage I and II courses.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
I try to use open resources as often as possible to reduce the cost of texts, to make the course materials as accessible as possible, and to create opportunities for new ways of learning.

How did OER help your students?
Students were only able to access the materials easily and from almost anywhere. Working with students, we were able to create new and different texts: annotated, interactive, or illustrated editions. In short, students were making the course.

Ramella headshotDaniele Ramella, Chemistry, College of Science and Technology

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
CHEM 1031 and 1032: General Chemistry I and II.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Cost. When I first joined Temple, one semester worth of chemistry materials could cost up to $300 to each student! Thanks to OER, I lowered that cost to about $35 per student. We tracked the academic outcomes and it didn’t make any difference! I eventually moved to some non-OER because it is virtually free to students under a subscription they anyways need to purchase for other classes.

How did OER help your students?
Financially. And removes the disadvantage felt by students who cannot afford traditional textbooks.

Roehl headshotWesley Roehl, Tourism and Hospitality Management, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I’ve used OER in both undergraduate and graduate level classes. In THM 1311, Business of Tourism and Hospitality Management, all of the assigned material is from OER sources. The same is true in THM 5345, Understanding Tourism in the 21st Century. In another master’s level class, THM 5601, Service Industry Analytics, I use a mix of OER materials and industry-oriented trade paperbacks.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Because of the flexibility they gave me to focus on the content I found most relevant to my course objectives and because of my concern that the price of traditional textbooks was a burden on my students.

How did OER help your students?
I think this strategy helps students by making it easier to expose them to a variety of voices, perspectives, and content beyond what they might experience from a single traditional textbook. The price issue can’t be ignored, either.

Scarpulla headshotMichelle Scarpulla, Social and Behavioral Sciences, College of Public Health

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I used open educational resources in SBS3105 Fundamentals of Health Education.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
I decided to do this because I couldn’t find a textbook that covered all of the content I feel is important for this class. All of the textbooks I reviewed had some of it, but none of them included it all. I was already supplementing with online articles and videos, so it just seemed to make more sense to fully implement this in my class.

How did OER help your students?
It has helped my students in a number of ways. First, they do not have to pay for a textbook, which most of them are very grateful for. Secondly, there is no delay in the beginning of the semester while students wait for books they have ordered online to arrive. Finally, it allows for hearing multiple views on a topic. Since there are readings from so many different sources, they are able to “hear” from many different experts on the content.

Udoeyo headshotFelix Udoeyo, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering

*Felix recently published an open textbook with North Broad Press.

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I have used open educational resources in two of my classes, namely CET 3145: Structural Analysis and CET 3333: Soil Mechanics.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Being aware of the financial burden on our kids in the college, and in a bid to help in a small measure to lighten this burden, I accepted the challenge by the Library to make educational materials affordable to the students via open educational resources.

How did OER help your students?
At the end of the courses, a questionnaire was administered to the students to find out how helpful to their learning were the open educational resources provided. Here are some of their comments:

    • “Using this method was much more effective, straight to the point and with no unnecessary examples.”
    • “It was easier than using textbooks, more accessible and cost effective.”
    • “New materials were accessible.”
    • “Alternative text is more practical and consistent, easy to go through and to understand.”
    • “Did not need to buy textbook, and all information was concise.”
    • “All notes were clear and provided good examples.”

Udoeyo headshotElvis Wagner, Middle Secondary Education, College of Education

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
FLED 5429: Curriculum and Methods in Foreign Language Education

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
This course is part of a two-course sequence. With the other course in the sequence, I assign a textbook. It’s a very good textbook, and I think it’s beneficial for my students. But it’s also very expensive–$125 for a new copy. I was also using a textbook in the FLED 5429 course that I didn’t particularly like, so I decided to ditch the textbook and use a collection of book chapters and journal articles available for free through the library.

How did OER help your students?
The materials I used instead of the textbook work better than the textbook, and it’s much easier to update the materials and also customize the content by swapping out chapters/articles for more recent and/or more relevant material. And it saves the students money!

Wu headshotJingwei Wu, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
I used an open educational resource in teaching my graduate-level College of Public Health core course: Introduction to Biostatistics.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
Both students and instructors will benefit from an open educational resource: students can save a tremendous amount of money on the cost of textbooks and access the augmented class materials at any time; instructors can enjoy freedom and wisdom in selecting and customizing course materials that fit the competencies of their classes.

How did OER help your students?
Unlike teaching with a traditional textbook, using an OpenStax resource (such as Introductory Statistics) and Temple licensed streaming video (Films on Demand) content provides free access to high-quality, peer-reviewed, learning materials. Being Open can increase the transparency of the source material and facilitates more interaction between the instructor and student. In addition, the students indicated that the Open resources were very helpful and would use the materials beyond the end of the course.

Zusai headshotDai Zusai, Economics, College of Liberal Arts

*Dai is currently publishing an open textbook with North Broad Press.

Which course(s) have you integrated an open educational resource?
Mathematics for economics, both for upper undergraduate and first-year graduate students.

Why did you choose an open educational resource?
No single book can meet diverse needs of my students and also our learning goals.
I can guide my students to other resources as problem sets and secondary references,
while writing an open textbook as a backbone to connect them.

How did OER help your students?
Each student finds a book that best fits with the own interests and needs for each part in the course. Besides, incoming students can easily access those open resources in advance and prepare better.