The University of Texas Libraries announces faculty selected for the 2023 Open Education Fellows Program.
This year’s fellows are Dr. Amanda Bush and Dr. Silvia Luongo (French & Italian), Dr. Nico Osier (Nursing) and Dr. Franco Pestilli (Psychology). Their work over the next year will impact students enrolled in courses ITL 601C, ITL 611, N 223 and PSY 371E.
The average price of a new print textbook averages aroun $65 at The University of Texas at Austin (per the University Co-op), but electronic resources and access codes can often cost students much more. Open Education Fellows explore strategies to save students enrolled in their courses thousands of dollars each semester by switching from commercial textbooks and other materials to OER and other freely available resources.
2022 Open Education Fellows saved students almost $12,000 in the first semester of using OER in their courses.
The open licenses assigned to OER allow students to access course content immediately and at no cost. Beyond this benefit, these open licenses also permit instructors to make copies and customize materials in ways that better serve students’ interests and their learning outcomes.
The Libraries will provide Fellows with professional development opportunities to support their activities in creating OER as well as stipends to offset the time and effort that we recognize these activities take. In addition to OER creation, Fellows will share their experiences by participating in Libraries’ events and collect anonymous student perceptions or outcomes data to understand the impact of adopting OER and other no-cost materials in their courses.
The cohort of Open Education Fellows will begin their work in January 2023. Authorship Fellows will have a usable draft of their OER ready by Spring 2024.
