Learn why and how UT Austin faculty are using and creating OER.
Christian Hilchey, PhD
Department: Slavic & Eurasian Studies
Courses I teach: First and Second Year Czech
Why I chose OER: My experience with OER has primarily been as a developer for the online Czech textbook Reality Czech (https://realityczech.org/). I have been working on this project for the past four years and it will soon be published online for use by anyone who is interested in learning Czech. The goal of this project is to produce a complete textbook replacement for First-year Czech language courses.
OERs are of monumental importance when we consider the rapidly increasing prices of textbooks as well as the need to use materials that are current. OERs give us the freedom to copy and adapt these materials without copyright concerns. It has been our goal to provide a valuable resource to Czech language instructors and students everywhere at little to no cost.
One of the most interesting things that I have run into while developing this textbook is the vast amount of openly licensed content already available that I am able to incorporate into the curriculum, including photos, drawings, videos, and written texts. It really is possible to create a quality course by adapting open content already available on the internet.
Amanda Hager, PhD
Department: Mathematics
Courses Taught: M 305G Preparation for Calculus, CalcBridge (dual-credit calculus)
OER I Use: OpenStax Precalculus, OpenStax Algebra and Trigonometry, OpenStax Calculus I, OpenStax Calculus II
Why I Chose OER: I have invested a ton of time and resources developing online homework assignments and YouTube mini-lectures for my students as their primary source of information for my courses. It seemed irresponsible to ask students to pay for a book that was meant to serve as a secondary resource. At the same time, I felt that a textbook could still play a vital role in the course, as another place for a student to look for explanations or extra problems. There are several free high-quality textbooks available in my subjects, and they save me the time of drafting a course guide or coursepack from scratch.
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