Affordable Learning Georgia started as a question: how can the USG help to reduce the cost of textbooks to students at a systemwide level? Ten years later, the core answer is “support, support, and support!” ALG provides support for Champions in getting the word out on campus, support for the creators of OER by hosting and sharing their work on a global scale, and support for teams of creative faculty, librarians, and instructional designers to get cutting-edge and impactful projects done through training and grants. Join Jeff and Nakita as we take a look at the past, present, and future of supporting open and affordable education in the USG.
Jeff Gallant and Nakita Afaha, Affordable Learning Georgia
Have you ever had an idea about developing course content beyond a standard textbook? There are lots of ways to take ideas from concept to fruition. In this session you will hear from panelists who have worked with OER in various capacities.
Nakita Afaha, Moderator
Dr. Bronson Long, Professor of History at Georgia Highlands College
Bronson has been the project lead for two major history texts and is currently working on a third.
Susanna Smith, Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science at Georgia Highlands College
Susanna partnered with several English faculty at GHC to develop a repository of readings which replaced the costly Norton Anthologies.
Dr. Sean Callahan, Chair, School of Social Sciences and Education at Georgia Highlands College
Sean has been the project lead for a number of psychology and education grants which focus on developing ancillary materials or revising previous OER content.
OER hosting can be as simple or as complex as you want, from a simple Springshare Libguide or Google site to Manifold, or with a published text through a university press using the peer review process. These panelists will share their very different experiences!
Jeff Gallant, Moderator
BJ Robinson, University of North Georgia Press
BJ is the Director of University of North Georgia Press, which is ALG's Partner in OER content creation.
Sharryse Henderson, Professor of Biology at Georgia Highlands College
Sharryse was the project lead for the Anatomy and Physiology I and II textbooks, which are housed on the Springshare LibGuides platform.
Dr. Tamara Powell, Professor of English at Kennesaw State University
Tamara is excited to talk about the decisions we made regarding making Open Technical Communicationavailable worldwide. We used/use and considered/are considering several hosting platforms: SoftChalk, Manifold, and PubPub. Our presentation will share rationales and lessons learned and things to consider as one creates an OER on the internet.
These short presentations will highlight three very different projects. OERs aren't all the same!
Introduction to Nursing, Georgia Highlands College
Dr. Paula Stover, DIrector of Nursing (retired) and Debbie Amason, Professor of Nursing
The first edition of "Introduction to Nursing" won the 2022 MERLOT Health Classics Award. The MERLOT Awards program recognizes and promotes outstanding online resources designed to enhance teaching and learning and honors the authors and developers of these resources for their contributions to the academic community. Awards for Exemplary Online Materials are presented to authors of peer- reviewed learning resources.
World Civilization I & II, Georgia Highlands College
Dr. Steven Blankenship, Professor of History at Georgia Highlands College
This comprehensive project encompasses is an excellent example of how to use multiple platforms to create a seamless set of materials. From primary source packets to teaching and assessment materials to video lectures, it's a solid course with all the materials easily accessible by faculty and students.
Exploring Public Speaking, Dalton State University
Dr. Barbara G. Tucker, Chair of the Department of Communication, Performing Arts, and Foreign Language & Professor of Communication at Dalton State College
In 2015, Kris Barton and Barbara Tucker were awarded a substantial grant from Affordable Learning Georgia to develop an open resource text for COMM 1110, a basic public speaking course. Over the next few years, the textbook, Exploring Public Speaking, began to draw attention and is now used on every continent but Antarctica and in every state. With its growing popularity, it needed to be revised multiple times, reformatted using InDesign, and supplemented with grant-supported ancillaries. Today Barbara will share their many learned lessons about the world of OER creation from this now ten-year experience.