Campus Entities Most Active in Efforts Advancing OER:

• Faculty Champions(s)
• Library
• Teaching and Learning Center

Library Departments Active in Efforts Advancing OER:

• Administration
• Scholarly Communication

Academic Subjects With Greatest OER Traction:

• Biological and related sciences
• Chemistry
• Health (incl. medicine, nursing)
• Law
• Social and behavioral sciences

Mechanisms to Support OER Included in the Following:

• Library Services
• Professional Development

OER Staff Location:

• Library

The University of Kentucky Libraries invites faculty to apply for a grant in support of replacing traditional commercial textbooks with affordable learning materials. A total of 10 grants will be awarded to successful applicants who propose to use open textbooks, free course content, UK Libraries’ licensed information resources, and/or newly created open content as alternative textbooks for their courses.

Program Type:

• Grant Program

Duration: 04/2016 - 03/2020

Program Webpage: https://libguides.uky.edu/alternative_textbooks/grant_20

Scope: Affordable course content, including cost-free course content and OER

Primary OER Strategy: OER Adoption

Secondary OER Strategies: OER Adaptation, OER Awareness, OER Curation, OER Pedagogy, OER Publication

Unit Housing the Program:

Library

Source of Program Funding:

• Library’s general operating budget

Funding from Library Departments:

• Administration

Total Program Funding to Date: $ 85,500

Total Student Savings to Date: $ 1,140,510

Incentives Offered by the Program:

• Financial incentives (grants, stipends)
• Award or public recognition

Conditions: Recipients are required to openly license and freely share resources created or adapted

Total amount of incentive grants awarded to date: $ 85,500

Total number of incentive grants awarded to date: 49

Typical amount of each grant: $ 1,500

Links:
Other Resource

Amid the concerns about the costs of higher education are the escalating prices of textbooks. According to the Census Bureau, the costs of college textbooks have risen 812% from 1978 to 2012. To alleviate students’ financial burdens, educators have switched to library resources and/or openly licensed peer-reviewed materials (open educational resources, OER) in place of traditional textbooks. In addition to being free of charge to students, OER allow instructors to customize the content to suit their pedagogical needs and provide students with up-to-date information on the subject. In fact, the past few years have witnessed a rise in the use of OER in higher education. Studies demonstrate that OER have helped students save thousands of dollars in the course of their university careers. As a result, students can spend the savings on enrolling in more courses and complete their programs.

To celebrate Open Access Week 2016 (October 24-30), the University of Kentucky Libraries hosted a panel discussion about the use and impact of OER. The panelists were Jeff Gallant (Affordable Learning Georgia), Leila W. Salisbury (University Press of Kentucky), and Allison Soult (University of Kentucky).

Date: Oct. 27, 2016 - Oct. 27, 2016

Event Type:

• Talk/Presentation

Event themes:

• Open Access Week

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 50

Links:
Event Summary
Recording
Slides
News Coverage

Go To Resource

This guide is about University of Kentucky Libraries' Alternative Textbook Grant Program. It also provides an overview of free online textbooks and offers assistance with finding, evaluating, adapting, and creating them.

Resource Permissions:
CC BY SA

Resource Citation:
University of Kentucky Libraries. (2020). Alternative Textbooks (Open Educational Resources) Guide. https://libguides.uky.edu/alternative_textbooks