According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of college textbooks rose 88% between 2006 and 2016. The high cost of required textbooks leads many students to forgo purchasing textbooks altogether, take fewer courses, or even drop or fail a course.

Hear from a panel of 2019 Library Faculty Fellows who will share information about their work to bring Open Educational Resources (OERs) and other low-cost and no-cost textbook alternatives to Drexel to help students succeed. The discussion will be followed by Q&A. This event is part of the Drexel Libraries’ Open Access Week activities.

Speakers:

• Douglas H. Baird, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of Curricular Innovation and Student Success, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies of the College of Medicine, raised awareness among faculty of the high costs of traditional textbooks and the benefits of assigning Open Educational Resources (OERs). He also published a review of an open textbook from the Open Textbook Network (OTN), and he shared his experiences and the benefits of OERs through presentations and discussions with Drexel faculty, staff and administrators.
• Vito Gulla, Adjunct Professor, Department of English & Philosophy, College of Arts & Sciences, wrote over 100 exercises for an Open Textbook for use in composition classes and hosted several focus groups for faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences to assess interest in and awareness of OER materials.
   
• Antonios Kontsos, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of Theoretical & Applied Mechanics Group (TAMG), College of Engineering, worked with two PhD students in his department to redesign a freshmen engineering course that utilizes Open Educational Resources (OERs). The 48 students enrolled in one section of this course learned at the start that they were not required to purchase a textbook, resulting in a collected estimated savings from prior years of over $6,000. Given his experience, Kontsos is planning to produce his own open textbook for use by over 700 students typically enrolled in this course that will scale savings to over $90,000 in the future.

Moderator:

• Danuta A. Nitecki, PhD, Dean of Libraries

Who should attend: Drexel faculty, staff and students; members of the public; PACLI librarians and others interested in learning about OERs and how they contribute to student success

Not on campus? Attend via Zoom, an online webinar service. Contact the Libraries' Communications Manager svs22@drexel.edu with any questions or concerns.

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