Making college more affordable
Four faculty members will receive grants from The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries to support the adoption and creation of open educational resources (OER) that make college more affordable for students.
The funds, totaling nearly $31,000, come from a grant program known as UTA CARES, or UTA Coalition for Alternative Resources in Education for Students. Open educational resources include textbooks, videos, quizzes and worksheets, as well as learning modules, lesson plans, syllabi, data and more.
“Our students’ success is a priority of UTA Libraries—and we believe that it is fundamentally tied to access and affordability of higher education,” said Rebecca Bichel, dean of UTA Libraries. “We are proud to collaborate with our faculty partners to broaden the opportunities afforded to our students through open educational resources and look forward to seeing their projects implemented in the classroom.”
The 2020 grant cycle is the first since the University announced a half-million-dollar annual investment in UTA Libraries’ OER program.
“Last year, we were affirmed in our impact on students through OER, and we hope to further that impact with the projects we’ve funded this spring,” said Michelle Reed, director of open educational resources for UTA Libraries. “Evidence shows that students perform and learn better when the economic barriers of textbooks and access codes are removed.
“As we continue to grow and expand the OER program, our goal is to continue breaking down these barriers for UTA students and make higher education more accessible at every course level.”
Funds from the UTA CARES grant program are distributed to support UTA educators in redesigning their courses using alternative materials.
The recipients are:
Julian Rodriguez: “Producción de Noticias Televisivas en Español en Estados Unidos de América”
Rodriguez, a broadcast communication specialist in UTA’s Department of Communication, will use the funds to develop and expand an open textbook for Spanish-language television news production in the United States. The OER is written in Spanish and includes American and cross-cultural terminology adaptations innate to the Hispanic media industry. It is currently being piloted by universities across the United States and Latin America.
The open textbook saved UTA students enrolled in the Media Workshop course approximately $1,750 in spring 2020 and students around the globe nearly $11,700 in its pilot semester.
Atefe Makhmalbaf: “Development, Adoption and Assessment of OER to Enhance Building Information Modeling Courses”
Makhmalbaf, assistant professor in the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA), received the grant to develop OER for building information modeling courses offered by CAPPA and the Department of Civil Engineering. When it is piloted in fall 2020, the OER will save UTA students enrolled in architecture, civil engineering and construction management courses approximately $5,800.
Tiffany Kindratt: “Big Data for Epidemiology: Development of Applied Data Analysis Skills Using National Health Surveys”
Kindratt, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, received the grant to develop an open textbook for a new course in the Master of Public Health program. In addition to the program’s Health Services Research Lab, the open textbook will be used in a new 5000-level course, “Big Data for Epidemiology,” which will be offered in spring 2021.
Karen Magruder: “Creating Green Social Work Curriculum with OER”
Magruder, assistant professor in practice in the School of Social Work, received the stipend to develop a course by leveraging content from UTA Libraries’ collections, materials that are free to access for UTA students. Magruder’s project saved students enrolled in the Green Social Work course approximately $3,500 in spring 2020.
- Written by Alexandra Pirkle