Skip to main content

Free the Textbook!



If you are or ever have been a college student, you know that textbooks are expensive. Affordable Learning Georgia estimates that at the current rate, students in the University System of Georgia would spend a total of $1,400,000,000 on textbooks. With student loan debt already a major issue in our country, it goes without saying that this type of expenditure needs attention. So – what is the higher education industry, particularly in Georgia, doing to address this issue?  

The answer is Open Educational Resources, or OERs, which are freely accessible, openly licensed documents and media that are useful for teaching and learning. Many colleges and universities are making efforts to transition to the use of OERs in their classes as opposed to traditional textbooks, which provides a zero-cost textbook option to students. Our state is paving the way for this movement, with programs like Affordable Learning Georgia, which has set a goal of providing faculty in the USG with a zero-cost textbook option for each of the System’s top 50 lower division courses.

At eCore, we are proud to offer open educational resources in over half of our curriculum. We continue to work with faculty to develop and implement Open Educational Resources throughout the entire eCore curriculum.

March 9 – 13, 2015 is International Open Education Week. In celebration of Open Education, we would like to express sincere and tremendous thanks to the eCore faculty who have worked to create and adopt open (free) textbooks and materials to make learning more affordable and possible for students throughout the University System of Georgia and beyond.

eCore has many points of pride regarding open resources.
Many faculty are working currently with eCore and Affordable Learning Georgia, OpenStax and the University Press of North Georgia to create and implement even more Open Educational Resources.

An OER Event:
Dr. Sarah Mergel (eCore ENVS Instructor), Dr. Andy Meyer (VPAA of Dalton State University) and eCore Senior Instructional Designer, Ashleigh Paulk will be part of a panel presenting an OER webinar on Thursday (March 12)  at 12 PM noon. 

 If you can join them online, registration is free at https://borusg.webex.com/borusg/k2/j.php?MTID=t034688007f9b2d482800f4335cf174ec

BIG thanks and cheers to the textbook heroes!! 
Christy Talley-Smith
Director of Curriculum and Instruction
USG eCore

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

eMajor Gave Me a Second Chance: One Student’s Journey to Earning Her Bachelor’s

After taking a break from college, Saucony Hunt learned about affordable, online degrees through the University System of Georgia’s eMajor program. Hunt was 12 years into her career when she became increasingly aware that she needed to complete a bachelor’s degree to continue to advance. Hunt initially enrolled in college right after high school, but reflects that she was “not prepared or focused enough to complete a degree at that time.” While she has no regrets about joining the workforce, she began looking for educational opportunities when she approached the midpoint of her career. Now she’s enrolled at East Georgia State College completing her degree in Organizational Leadership fully online through the USG eMajor Program , This program offers a flexible route that allows students in many career paths to tailor their learning and possibly receive credit for demonstration of learning achieved during past work or military experiences. What drew Saucony to eMajor was the unparallel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spring Semester: Overcoming the January Blues

Spring semester often presents with the excitement of New Year’s Resolutions, new classes and the knowledge that spring break is just a few weeks away. However, it also brings a sense of sadness for many students as December holiday activities have concluded and the days are short. For online students, these feelings of general sadness can be even more pronounced if the student is isolated. Fewer people are outdoors during the cold days of winter and social activities have likely slowed down. Following are a few tips for feeling your best as the semester unfolds. Know that you aren’t alone. The January Blues and the February Slump are well recognized. If you have these feelings, embrace them and understand that occasional blues are normal. Get outdoors . As an online student, it’s very important that you are intentional about spending time in the sunlight. Some believe that the January blues are caused in part by the lack of sunlight (as compared to summer months). Take time for daily...
Post a Comment
Read more

Professor Broussard: This Georgia College Professor Teaches History from a Very Unique Point of View

Not only is Dr. Ray Broussard a UGA/USG eCore History professor still teaching in his 90s, but he’s also a World War II and Korean War veteran. eCampus visits Dr. Broussard’s home in Athens, Georgia for an update on his love of life and teaching. We last interviewed Dr. Broussard in 2012 , when we learned about his time in the Navy, his early teaching days, and his genuine surprise when he realized you really could teach History online. Today, he is not only the oldest, but also one of USG eCore’s most engaging instructors and consistently receives gushing comments from students in his course evaluations-- many who are amazed to learn world and United States history from someone who helped make the history. At 91 years old, Dr. Broussard and his wife (a retired high school history teacher), haven’t been up for traveling as much, so he invited us to visit with him at his home. We arrived at his peaceful, quaint little house on the Eastside of Athens where he eagerly welc...
3 comments
Read more