Textbook Transformation: Save students $55,000 using OERs Dr. Tamara Powell, Dr. Jonathan Arnett, Ms. Monique Logan, Dr. Cassandra Race, Ms. Tiffani Reardon Kennesaw State University

According to a study performed by the US Government Accountability Office, the annual average amount students spend on textbooks is 26% of the cost of tuition at a public, four year university. Motivation s

Students without textbooks are at a disadvantage Textbook prices have skyrocketed The constant updates to intro to tech comm were burdensome to instructors and unwarranted Research on OERs is positive Motivation s

Overvie w Affordable Learning Georgia Textbook Transformation Grant Textbook for two courses, each taught by two faculty Courses are TCOM 2010: Technical Writing and WRIT 3140: Workplace Writing students per section, 21 courses per year, 525 students impacted Total student savings per year (estimated) is $55,611.55

Overvie w Working title is Sexy Technical Writing Multimedia, interactive textbook created in SoftChalk, hosted on KSU server Managing the project with SoftChalk Cloud Final product is downloadable and printable Available at First class with the book launches summer 2016 (June 1, to be precise)

The Project We used material, with permission, from David McMurrey’s Online Technical Writing textbook and J. Steve Miller and Cherie K. Miller’s Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense. We added interactive activities and videos both by us and from experts in the field. We made sure it was all accessible. We wrote chapters that needed to be written. Lots of remixing.

Details Cool special features of our textbook: Short, topic-specific online chapters that can be added to any learning management system (and printed out, if desired) Learning activities and assignments to support instructor use Interactive activities (quizzes, puzzles, games) to support content Videos (all closed captioned) by team and by experts in field to increase learning and support professional development Collaborative activities to build community among all users of the textbook

Use Faculty can put the links to our chapters in their lms, in s, in the syllabus, wherever it is most convenient.

Thank You! Questions? Dr. Tamara Powell Dr. Jonathan Arnett: Ms. Monique Logan: Dr. Cassandra Race: Ms. Tiffani Reardon: Sexy Technical Writing:

Reference s American Council on Education/Center for Education Attainment and Innovation. “Open Textbooks: The Current State of Play.” April 8, Fischer, Lane, John Hilton III, T. Jared Robinson, David A. Wiley. “A Multi- Institutional Study of the Impact of Open Textbook Adoption on the Learning Outcomes of Post-Secondary Students.” Journal of Computing in Higher Education (2015) United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. “Survey Shows Students Opting Out of Buying High-Cost Textbooks.” January 27, buying-high-cost-textbooks buying-high-cost-textbooks

ALG Don’t forget the Affordable Learning Georgia initiative: