Loyola Faculty Selected as Open Textbooks Pilot Cohort Leader

Monroe Library librarian and Assistant Professor Victoria Elmwood has been selected as a cohort leader in a Department of Education-funded grant project. The $2 million grant awarded to LOUIS, the Louisiana Library Network, funds the creation of open educational resources (OER) for 25 of the state’s general education courses for students taking dual enrollment courses, which earn the student both high school and college credit. Dual enrollment courses can make college more attainable by allowing students to earn college credit at significantly lower costs and by accelerating the student’s time to complete their degree, but the high price of course textbooks and other course materials can be a barrier to participation.

The LOUIS/Department of Education grant funds the development of OER such as textbooks, quizzes, and tests that can be used in dual-enrollment classes at no cost to the students. The OER will be released under licenses that permit their reuse and modification by others in the state and worldwide.

Creation of the OER will be a collaboration between librarians, teaching faculty, and technologists. Loyola’s User Experience Librarian Victoria Elmwood will lead a cohort of five teaching faculty to develop OER for English Composition I courses. The impact of this project cannot be overstated, as approximately 20,000 high school students and 250,000 total students in Louisiana alone participate in dual-enrollment courses.

Congratulations, Dr. Elmwood!