Five WSU faculty members are working on creating open educational resources for their respective courses after earning Affordable Learning Grants.

The projects will save WSU students an estimated $214,000 in 2020-21 by shifting from traditional textbooks to openly licensed course materials. Over the past four years, Affordable Learning Grants have led to more than $1 million savings in textbook costs for WSU students. Students have also reported a very high satisfaction rate with online, affordable course materials versus traditional textbooks.

Each of the five grant recipients was awarded $4,500 to fund development of open education resources through the summer months. The faculty members receive technical assistance through the Office of Academic Innovation and WSU Libraries.

This year’s grants were funded through the Transformational Change Initiative, which promotes student access through multiple components.

This year’s Affordable Learning Grant recipients are:

• Paul Buckley (Chemistry 103)
• Collin Ingram Shull (Spanish 204)
• Nora Larissa Kuster (Humanity 103, multiple campuses)
• Johanna Phelps (English 402, WSU Vancouver)
• Julie Staggers (English 402, multiple campuses)

For more information on Affordable Learning Grants and open educational resources at WSU, visit oer.wsu.edu.