Announcing the ACU Alternative Textbook Initiative Academic Year 2021-22

Application form closed.

Goal 

To support ACU faculty in their efforts to replace traditional commercial textbooks with academically equivalent alternatives that are available at zero cost to students.

Project Overview

The university’s leadership and the Brown library staff share a concern about textbook affordability and its impact on student success while recognizing that it is the prerogative of faculty to select the course materials that are most appropriate for a class. Through this grant for courses offered in Fall 2021 or Spring 2022, the library is supporting selected faculty to identify and utilize no-cost options for textbooks, including open access textbooks, as long as there is no reduction in the quality of the course. The cost of college textbooks is often a major affordability issue for students, who take on additional loan debt to pay for textbooks or undercut their own learning by forgoing the purchase of textbooks. Open access textbooks* can offer an affordable, comparable, and potentially a superior alternative to commercial textbooks. Faculty may also develop syllabi that fully utilize instructional material that is licensed institutionally by the library, resulting in no additional costs for students.

*Definition of Open Access Textbook: Textbooks that are digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.

Selection Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed by the Scholarly Communications Librarian and representatives from the Brown Library. The deadline to submit the proposal is April 15, 2021, and notification of awards will be made by April 30, 2021.

Three $2000 grants will be awarded on the basis of:

  1. Purpose: Proposals must plan to replace all course materials with an open access textbook or a licensed electronic book or books within the ACU library for at least one class. 
  2. Quality: Instructor’s relative confidence in the precision and pedagogy of the alternative textbook(s).
  3. Efficiency: Potential financial savings to ACU students.
  4. Scope of Audience: Number of ACU students impacted.
  5. Sustainability: Ability and intention to utilize the new textbook(s) in the applicant’s future courses.
  6. Scalability: Potential applicability to sections of the course taught by other faculty.
  7. Timeliness: Ability to be implemented by Spring Semester 2022.

Each $2000 grant will be awarded in three installments. The first award ($1000) will be granted during Summer 2021 to support the additional work needed to re-tool the course’s syllabus. The second and third grants will be awarded upon the completion of up to two semesters ($500 per semester) using the alternative textbook(s) selected for the class. Note that the maximum award for this project is $2000; if the grant winner uses the alternative textbook for only one semester the total award will be $1500.

Projects Not Eligible

  • OA Textbooks/Open Educational Resources (OER) previously used in the faculty member’s existing courses.
  • Courses taught by part-time or adjunct faculty

Academic Support

There are a number of standard resources for locating Open Access Textbooks, which ACU Librarians have listed here and on an OER guide here.

Please reach out to exp10a@acu.edu to request assistance in finding an appropriate alternative open access textbook, if one exists. 

In addition, the  Innovation Foundry (if@acu.edu) may assist with the implementation of Open Access textbooks and related course support systems in Canvas. If you are accustomed to using a course management program to assist with assessment (e.g., quizzes) and or discussion/labs, please be aware that there are a number of similar options for Open Access textbooks. The Innovation Foundry can assist in identifying if a good option exists for your course.

Application Process

Click here to submit proposals that include the following:

  • Course for which you wish to incorporate an open access textbook
  • Title and cost (lowest identifiable new condition) of the textbook that you would like to replace
  • Provide us with the title and web link to your proposed open access textbook
  • Provide a summary of your interest in doing this project, your background (if any) in working with open access materials, the nature of the course modifications you would like to pursue, and any challenges or barriers you anticipate in carrying out your plans. We are interested in learning about what you would like to do, and the impact of your efforts on this course and/or other courses at the University.

Questions? 

Contact Erica Pye, Scholarly Communications Librarian, at 325-674-2352 or exp10a@acu.edu