Faculty Spotlight: Building a network for student success
James Howard is an award-winning Oregon State Ecampus campus partner. He is part of a network of folks working to help students both on- and off-campus.
No-cost course materials
Microbiology instructor solves a costly problem for students, increases access to learning
Linda Bruslind estimated that less than half of the students in her General Microbiology course were buying and using the required publisher’s textbook. To put it another way, the majority of her MB 302 students did not have access to vital learning resource in large part because it was cost prohibitive. (A new copy of the latest publisher’s edition runs nearly $250.) She decided to fix the problem.
The future of education is wide open
K.C. Walsh, a senior instructor of physics at Oregon State University, long ago realized how burdensome the financial situation is for students. In sports terms, the textbook publishing companies are winning, and it’s a blowout. Financially, the students continually come up short. That’s why Walsh decided to change the game by embracing the open educational resource (OER) movement and giving his students access to no-cost and low-cost course materials.
