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On March 24, the ATU Student Government Association passed a resolution in support of Open Educational Resources. The use of Open Educational Resources at ATU will significantly reduce the cost of textbooks for students and will benefit faculty members who receive grants for the creation of the textbooks.
SGA President Hannah Stone, a senior from Clarksville triple-majoring in political science, sociology, and criminal justice, spoke about SGA’s decision to pass the resolution.
“I hope more students are able to pursue higher education due to such cost-reducing programs, and that the quality of that education improves from such increases in attendance and revenue,” said Stone.
In terms of how SGA plans to inform the student body about Open Educational Resources, Stone said that they hope to collaborate with faculty, staff, and administration to devise the best plan for informing students of this initiative while maintaining quality resources.
Sherry Tinerella, public services librarian at Ross Pendergraft Library, informed SGA of Open Educational Resources after coming to guest speak at one of their open senate meetings. She has led the charge on promoting this initiative at Arkansas Tech and asked SGA for assistance, which led to this resolution.
According to a survey conducted by SRI Education, students at schools participating in the Open Educational Resources initiative paid at least $65 less per course on average. Additionally, 41% of students surveyed said that Open Educational Resources would significantly affect their ability to afford college.
While there are several benefits to Open Educational Resources, there are some obstacles. First of all, it takes time and money to create a textbook. Sometimes it can take years to complete a textbook. It also takes time to introduce faculty to Open Educational Resources, and even more time as well as training to support faculty in using open textbooks.
Several ATU faculty have already invested in Open Educational Resources, with 5 having written textbooks for use by students. These faculty are Dr. Matt Brown, Dr. Weiru Chen, Jamie King, Dr. Debra Murphy, and Dr. Subha Pratihar. Several other faculty have shown support for Open Educational Resources by becoming either adapters, adopters, or updaters for the textbooks.
For more information about Open Educational Resources and how it will affect ATU, contact the Student Government Association at sga@atu.edu
