PASCAL has joined the Open Textbook Network (OTN), as part of its ongoing efforts to support textbook affordability. The Network is an alliance of hundreds of colleges, universities, and consortia partners working together to advance the effective use of open educational resources in higher education. OTN membership will provide training, tools and easy access to open textbooks in order develop sustainable open textbook programs on member library campuses.
OTN manages the Open Textbook Library, a comprehensive catalog of over 600 open textbooks, with over 3,000 faculty reviews that provide informed peer review of these offerings. The Textbooks are licensed under Creative Commons. When a faculty member adopts an open textbook, it can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost.
For PASCAL, a key component of OTN membership is its robust training program for librarians, making them open education leaders capable of advocating for and supporting faculty adoption of openly available textbooks.
Four representatives from PASCAL’s Affordable Learning Task Force will attend OTN’s Summer Institute from July 22-26, where they will be trained in best practices, learn to facilitate open textbook workshops, and develop leadership experience they can share with the PASCAL community. Attendees for this year’s Summer Institute include:
Experienced trainers from the OTN staff will also conduct two, day-long workshops for librarians and other stakeholders at PASCAL institutions. These sessions will introduce attendees to open textbooks and the benefits they can provide on campus.
The OTN facilitates data collection to support measuring student savings and impacts on student outcomes. Data collection is managed through a dashboard available to members. Faculty at PASCAL member institutions will also be able to contribute reviews of used materials to the repository, strengthening the knowledge base supporting textbook adoption.
PASCAL launched its South Carolina Affordable Learning (SCALE) initiative in January 2018 to promote the use of quality low-cost and no-cost learning materials through outreach, training and faculty programming. PASCAL’s Affordable Learning Task Force recommended membership in OTN as an important next step in this statewide initiative.
To learn more about PASCAL’s OTN membership and its affordable learning initiatives, visit the South Carolina Affordable Learning (SCALE) website or contact Ellan Jenkinson, PASCAL Member Engagement & Training Librarian (ejenkinson@pascalsc.org).
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