Natural Science: Biology
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Grant Recipients:
Robert Joel Duff, Professor, Department of Biology Faculty Adoptions:
Robert Joel Duff, Professor, Department of Biology |
$Savings to Date |
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Number of Students Benefited |
$Previous Course Material Cost |
Project Synopsis:
This is a non-majors biology course. Students most likely will not keep a textbook for future reference so it made sense for us to adopt a free lab manual and free open source textbook. The openstax book Concepts of Biology is written in the same sequence (pretty much) as the old textbook we were using so that made the transition a bit simpler. The quality of the material in the book is on par with the old textbook in our opinion. In talking to students before we started the transition, we were very surprised to learn how many students never bother to buy a book or do any reading at all. Students are sharing with us that they do actually look at the free book now and some have asked in lab for help understanding some of the material - so that means they are actually looking at the free book.
Quotes from Faculty:
“Textbook reading does have value - making it more affordable is a great idea. All the bells and whistles that come with traditional textbooks are not worth the money to most students. College is very expensive. If we can help students be more successful by giving them free textbook material we should try to do it.”
--Deborah Ammerman