Hello again, and welcome to the CTT! I’m Nick Monk, Director, and I want to update you on some of the things we’re involved with at present beyond helping the university plan its teaching and learning for the fall.
A matter close to our heart at the CTT, and one that has been championed by Senior Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Amy Goodburn, is Open Educational Resources (OER). OER Seed Grants (formerly Kelly Grants) have for three years funded pedagogical innovations and course redesigns resulting from the adoption, adaptation, or authoring of OER. In addition to eliminating textbook costs, grant projects have reflected a wide range of goals: addressing textbook and course material deficits, rethinking and reorganizing course subject matter to incorporate a greater diversity and variety of source materials, increasing student engagement, and redesigning entire program curricula.
We’re very happy to announce the winners of the 2020-21 grants:
- Congrui Jin, Civil and Environmental Engineering, $4,000
- Taylor Livingston, Anthropology (School of Global Integrative Sciences), $8,000
- Jill Martin, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, $4,000
- Gina Matkin, Agricultural Leadership, Education, & Communication, $4,000
- Brian Moore, Glenn Korff School of Music, $8,000
- Sabine Zempleni, Nutrition and Health Sciences, $7,940
The grants are just one among a number of ways that instructors can reduce costs for students. Inclusive Access, for example, is a program that offers up to 80% discounts on textbook costs for students at the university. This program delivers digital texts directly in Canvas, and textbooks are available on day one of the course to all students. You may be able to save students money by ordering through this program. Most textbooks and courseware you are already using through the Campus Bookstore can be made available in this program at reduced prices.
Even though the traditional Bookstore textbook order deadline has passed, instructors may still order Inclusive Access digital texts through the end of May. The Inclusive Access program makes textbooks from a large number of publishers, predominately in e-textbook format, available to students at significant discounts and from the first day of class, eliminating delays and ensuring all students have access to course materials. If you’re interested in inclusive access please email Jennifer Baack, Textbook Department, jbaack2@unl.edu; or Linda Green, Course Materials Manager, lgreen3@unl.edu.
Any student can opt out of this program before the last day to drop the course and receive a full refund. Over 95% of students in these courses do not opt-out due to the reduced cost of textbooks in this program.
If you have questions about other affordable content programs offered through these initiatives you can contact Brad Severa at 472-0606 or email bsevera@nebraska.edu
Best wishes from all of us at the CTT for the coming week.
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