The Kirwan Center and the USM Student Council are collaborating on the Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative, which is providing interested faculty with opportunities to explore the feasibility of adopting open-source materials for use in their courses.
Register here by July 31, 2016: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YXR8TQM
Textbook prices have been rising dramatically over the last several years. According to the College Board, students spend an average of $1,200/year on textbooks and other instructional materials for their courses. In the meantime, increasing numbers of high quality, faculty-written, and peer reviewed open-source instructional materials are becoming available that are free online, free to download, and affordable in print.
The Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation shares the USM Student Council’s concern over rising instructional materials costs while also recognizing that textbook choice for any course is the prerogative of the faculty. Therefore, we are collaborating to provide interested faculty with opportunities to explore the feasibility of adopting open-source course materials through the Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative.
During the 2016-17 academic year, M.O.S.T. will continue to support faculty who are interested in:
- Practical training in the discovery, use, and licensing of open-source materials;
- Content recommendations including open textbooks, open courses, and supplementary materials;
- Review of identified materials to ensure correct uses based on licensing and terms;
- Participating in a collaborative community to share learnings;
- Evaluating the feasibility of open-source adoption as well as the students’ and the faculty experience with open-source materials; and
- Learning how other institutions are working to adopt and sustain OER at scale to increase educational affordability.
As part of the project, Lumen Learning (lumenlearning.com) will be providing individualized support to participating faculty throughout the term. This support can include selecting appropriate instructional resources, adapting materials to suit your preferences, locating effective technologies for delivering your content, and conducting post hoc analyses and providing recommendations for course improvements.
For your participation, and as a small token of our appreciation for your efforts, faculty participants will receive a $500 stipend from the USM… as well as their students’ eternal gratitude for doing what they can to reduce the cost of attaining a higher education degree!
If you are interested in being involved in during the 2016-17 academic year, please follow the link below to fill out a short survey (5 minutes) and sign up to receive additional information. We will only be able to fund a limited number of faculty in the pilot, so sign up soon! We will be closing the call for participants on July 31, 2016.
