October 2, 2019

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.

On October 22, the Drexel Libraries is pleased to host a panel discussion with three of the 2019 Library Faculty Fellows appointed to explore ways to promote and incorporate Open Educational Resources (OERs) in coursework at Drexel.

During the panel, three Library Faculty Fellows will share information about their work with OERs and discuss how OERs and low-cost and no-cost textbook alternatives can help Drexel students succeed. The discussion will be followed by Q&A. This event is part of the Drexel Libraries’ Open Access Week activities and is free and open to all members of the Drexel and Philadelphia communities.

Moderated by Danuta A. Nitecki, Dean of Libraries, the speakers will include:

• 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.

Who should attend: Drexel faculty and staff interested in learning more about Open Educational Resources (OERs) and how they can adopt OERs in their courses; members of the public interested in learning about OERs and how they contribute to student success

Register to attend: Visit the Drexel Libraries' event page to register for the panel discussion. Space is limited and reserve your seat today!