该计划为十大网赌靠谱网址平台阿宾顿分校的学生节省了超过4.5万美元的教科书费用

Affordable Course Content Faculty Fellowship

Melvin Gupton, assistant professor of corporate communication, 通过开发一套免费的教材来代替传统的教科书,为每门课的学生节省了大约120美元.

Credit: Regina Broscius

ABINGTON, Pa. — Penn State Abington students saved more than $45,7名教员重新设计了课程,在保持课程完整性的同时,不再需要购买课本. 

在由校长资助的负担得起的课程内容教师奖学金的支持下, the faculty adopted free course materials, revised their syllabi, and made changes to teaching practices. 每位教员都得到了由图书管理员和教学设计师组成的团队的亲自或远程支持. 

书籍和用品的费用估计为每个阿宾顿学生1美元,840 per academic year, 近四分之三的阿宾顿学生获得了经济援助.

Christina Riehman-Murphy, reference and instruction librarian at Abington, said students should be able to afford to succeed in college. 

她说:“当一些人付不起教材费用时,这会使课堂成为一个不公平的竞争环境。. “This is highly relevant to our students. 如果他们需要LionShare食品储藏室,那么他们就需要负担得起的课程内容.”

里曼-墨菲说,一名学生来图书馆是因为他们买不起毕业前最后一门课所需的书. 图书管理员通过书店紧急礼品卡计划帮助了这位学生, 但除此之外,我唯一的选择就是放弃这门课,推迟毕业. 

“From speaking to others at Abington, 我们相信这种情况比我们想象的要普遍得多,” she said. “How many students don't ask for help? What choices are they having to make?”

一位不愿透露姓名的学生做出了这些艰难的选择.

"I simply can't afford to buy the books, 所以我依靠图书馆里的课本和教授提供的材料," she said.

The problem isn’t limited to Abington. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 十分之七的学生因为费用原因没有购买教科书, 五分之一的学生因为所需资源的价格而跳过或推迟上课.

Abington student at laptop

Through Open Educational Resources, 十大网赌靠谱网址平台阿宾顿分校为学生提供从教科书到课堂讲稿的课程内容. 

Credit: Regina Broscius

Faculty utilized Open Educational Resources, or OERs, that gave them the ability to customize course materials, 创建课程包,而不是绑定到传统的一刀切模式, Riehman-Murphy said. 它使教师能够更好地控制课程材料的质量.

Melvin Gupton, assistant professor of corporate communication他的CAS 204:传播研究方法课程为每位学生节省了大约120美元. 他在遵守版权规则的同时,开发了一套书籍章节和在线学术文章. 其他内容以幻灯片的形式呈现,没有任何特定来源.

“I am loving my course, 学生们从免费的资源体验中受益,” he said. “我直截了当地问过学生,他们是否喜欢这种形式, and unanimously the hands go up in confirmation.”

Zack McLaughlin-Alcock, lecturer in mathematics, called the experience, which saved each of his students an average of $135, a major win. 

“我能够找到并整合两本开放获取的教科书和一个开放获取的计算机作业工具," he said. “我们能够连接YouTube上其他数学教师策划的解决问题的视频,以补充具体的想法和章节.”

Students in one course taught by Rachael Eriksen Brown数学教育助理教授平均每人节省了75美元.

“In the past, 有时,由于学生没有购买课本,没有完成家庭作业导致成绩下降,” she said. 

And Vivian Hsu, 心理与社会科学助教, 她说,上她心理学入门课程的学生每人节省了149美元. 

Riehman-Murphy说,阿宾顿大学校长达米安·费尔南德斯(Damian Fernandez)已经将“负担得起的课程内容教师奖学金”延长了一年. 

“随着这个项目的发展,我们将期待与更多的教师和更多的班级合作,” she said. 

Elizabeth Nelson, 十大网赌靠谱网址平台的参考和指导馆员, 当她在阿宾顿校区工作时,她与Riehman-Murphy合作了这个项目. 

Student in library

十大网赌靠谱网址平台阿宾顿图书馆保留了一些教科书,学生们可以借阅.

Credit: Dan Z. Johnson

What are Open Educational Resources (OERs)?

OERs是指在公共领域或以开放许可引入的任何类型的教育材料. 这些开放材料的性质意味着任何人都可以合法和自由地复制, use, adapt and reshare them. OERs range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation. 

Because this is a growing movement, not all disciplines, 院系或课程有适合其教学需要的OER可用. OER通常由教师为自己的学科创建,然后通过各种收藏在网上免费共享. 

About Penn State Abington

Penn State Abington provides an affordable, 无障碍和高影响力的教育导致多元化学生群体的成功. 它致力于通过创新的方法在世界一流的研究型大学内实现21世纪公立高等教育的学生成功. With about 3,700 students, 十大网赌靠谱网址平台阿宾顿分校是一所住宿校园,提供21个专业的学士学位, undergraduate research, the Schreyer honors program, NCAA Division III athletics and more.

Contact