Congratulations to Leanne Stevens in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience in the Faculty of Science. Dr. Stevens was awarded a $3,000 OER grant that was co-sponsored by Dalhousie Libraries and the Centre for Learning & Teaching.

What is an OER? As defined by UNESCO, Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.

Dr. Stevens’ explains her plans for the grant:

Over the last seven years, the Introduction to Psychology program has used four different textbooks. Although the cost of a new copy of the hardcover texts has varied, it has typically hovered around $150 for students. We have always felt that the cost was too high and posed a significant burden on students. As such, we’ve routinely pressured the leading textbook companies to reduce the cost or to offer more cost-effective options.

In recent years, we have been able to offer online versions of the text for lower prices (e.g., $60-$100), but acknowledge that this cost may still act as a barrier to student success in our classes. In an effort to reduce barriers and improve access for all students, we would like to adopt and adapt an open textbook for our Introduction to Psychology & Neuroscience program (includes six courses: PSYO 1011/1012/1031/1032 and SCIE 1506/1507). Building on and utilizing the resources created through the work done with our Tricky Topics video series (closed captioning, transcripts, creation of key UDL/accessible images/diagrams), we aim to create a high-quality, academically rigorous, and accessible textbook that would be free to all students.

More information about the grant can be found here: https://www.dal.ca/dept/clt/awards_grants/Grants/OER.html