Three openly licensed textbooks written by University of Arkansas faculty are now available in the Open Textbook Library.
- Open Technical Writing: An Open-Access Text for Instruction in Technical and Professional Writing was written by Adam Rex Pope, assistant professor in the Department of English for the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. Pope is the director of the Graduate Certificate in Technical Writing and Public Rhetorics program at the U of A.
- University Physics I: Classical Mechanics was written by Julio Gea-Banacloche, professor in the Department of Physics for Fulbright College. Gea-Banacloche is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has also served as the physics department chair.
- Astronomy for Educators was written by Daniel E. Barth, clinical assistant professor of curriculum and instruction for the College of Health and Education Professions. Barth’s research interests include low-cost science and astronomy. His book brings these two interests together to provide a free, openly licensed resource for future educators and professional teachers.
Each of these faculty members was awarded Open Educational Resources Course Materials Conversion Program funding from the Libraries and Global Campus to help them complete these textbooks. Elaine Thornton, open education and distance learning librarian, submitted the textbooks to the Open Textbook Library for inclusion. The OTL is supported by the University of Minnesota Center for Open Education and the Open Textbook Network.
“Each of these works, as well as an online textbook authored by Michael Thomsen, is available in the U of A’s institutional repository,” said Thornton. “Each textbook has been accessed by individuals from many states and several countries. One of the goals of the open education community is to share resources as broadly as possible. Having the textbooks listed in the Open Textbook Library takes sharing to another level by making our authors’ work visible to a larger population of educators and students.”
The Open Textbook Library currently lists 664 openly licensed textbooks. Over 400 of the listed textbooks have been reviewed by faculty at Open Textbook Network member institutions.
“As a university, we need to do everything we can to lower costs for students,” said Jim Coleman, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Open Educational Resources are a great way to not only lower the costs of course materials for students, but OER materials can be used and designed in ways to help improve student learning outcomes. I truly appreciate the work that the University of Arkansas Libraries, Global Campus and faculty are doing to facilitate the use and development of OER.”
U of A faculty have a chance to become a part of the Open Educational Resources success story! Applications are now being accepted for funding to create, adopt or adapt open educational resources or to participate in the Affordable/OER Course Redesign Workshop. Faculty are encouraged to schedule a consultation by Friday, Oct. 18, or contact the U of A OER team at oer@uark.edu to discuss options.