Round Two Illinois SCOERs Subgrant Awardees Abstracts

The “Illinois SCOERs: Support for the Creation of Open Educational Resources” Subgrants, funded by the Open Textbooks Pilot Grant received from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) and the U.S. Department of Education. Awardees will create open textbooks and ancillary materials for courses which have large enrollments or are in the focus area, “The Human Condition: Care, Development, and Lifespan.

Project Abstracts

Foundational Courses in the Theory and Practice of Media Arts

Professor Robert Spahr from the School of Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale proposed “Foundational Courses in the Theory and Practice of Media Arts.” The central goal of this project is to re-invent Media Arts education for the 21st Century by integrating theory and practice, and make this available to everyone through the creation of open educational resources which will include an instructors manual and ancillary materials. The First-Year Foundational courses in the School of Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale consist of six co-taught or team-taught courses. These courses are modular and build upon one another so that the open instructors manual will provide an overview of a larger integrated course of study within the foundations of Media Arts. In addition, these courses integrate practice based education with lectures, demos, and seminar discussions, as well as art critique and scholarly criticism. This combination of pedagogy focuses on a variety of hands-on experiences with both analog and digital image making, still and moving images, live art performance, sound art, code-based networked art, 3D printing, installation, as well as the adaptation of exisiting text, and original storytelling. Through creative inquiry these foundational courses will encourage students to investigate the traditions of the arts and humanities to create new knowledge which can inspire us to ask who we are and what our lives might mean.

Traces: An Open Invitation to Archaeology

Parkland College’s Associate Dean of Learning Commons, Morgan Quilty, submitted a proposal titled Traces: An Open Invitation to Archaeology, is intended for college students who take Introduction to Anthropology courses nationwide. Community colleges serve over a third of first-generation college students, and a significant portion of these students are low-income and/or underrepresented minorities. By removing the economic barrier associated with expensive textbooks, Parkland College continues its work in promoting equity and inclusion of all students. In Spring 2023, copy editing services for Traces will be secured; the project team will collaborate with anthropology, forensics, and history faculty to create the ancillary teaching materials; and the 3-D specialist will collaborate with faculty to produce 3-D printing of artifacts. The overarching goal of these activities is to complete Traces and its ancillaries by summer 2023 so it is ready for classroom adoption in fall 2023.

Freshman Experience in Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality in Engineering Graphics Using Open Educational Resources

Professor Edoarda Corradi Dell’Acqua submitted “Freshman Experience in Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality in Engineering Graphics Using Open Educational Resources” on behalf of the Illinois Intitute of Technology. This proposal aims to introduce virtual reality and augmented reality experiences in a first-year course in engineering graphics. The course is required for all first-year students entering civil and architectural engineering majors at Illinois Institute of Technology. Students will be required to utilize open educational resources (OER) in their projects. OER in the form of a variety of references, such as textbooks and software, will be integrated into the course. Projects in engineering graphics require the ability to visualize objects in 3D from 2D projections, and vice versa. Using OER, students will be able to visualize 3D drawings in a virtual reality/augmented reality platform with capabilities to explode the models into components and include proper annotations and links to additional information through videos, narratives, and other open-source information. The students will also experience 3D printing of their models in applications specific to building design and systems. The student outcomes will be measured through specific performance indicators and will be compared with previous assessment records of similar cohorts of students. It is expected that this project will enhance the learning experience of students and better prepare them for their upper-level courses. The experience with OER is also expected to provide them with a unique skill that will support students throughout their education.

Pharmacology-Principles/Application for Medical Assistants

Terra Jacobson, Dean of the Learning Resources Center at Morraine Valley Community College proposed a project on “Pharmacology-Principles/Application for Medical Assistants.”A textbook will be created, titled: Pharmacology-Principles/Application for Medical Assistants, to cover pharmacology topics specific to Medical Assistants, as no appropriate text currently exists. The Commission on Health Education Programs lists twenty accredited MA programs in Illinois. This project will provide these programs, MA faculty, and MA students across the state with an OER pharmacology electronic textbook and ancillary products, reduce the costs associated with completing an MA certificate program, and create hands-on models for clinical instruction for a more robust learning experience. The textbook and ancillary materials will be created through the SP 23 and FA 23 semesters. MOA 144, Pharmacology Principles/Application, will be offered each semester at MVCC for the next two academic years using the created materials. This project will also produce practice injection models for students, as well as glasses that simulate the effects of glaucoma on a patient’s vision. By making the content more accessible, we anticipate increased student success in the course and student retention in the Medical Assistant program.

Lessening Financial Barriers and Increasing Inquiry and Community Engagement for Health Professions and Science Students: An OER for Human Nutrition

Lessening Financial Barriers and Increasing Inquiry and Community Engagement for Health Professions and Science Students: An OER for Human Nutrition,” was suggested by Tammy Kuhn-Schnell, Dean of the Library at Lincoln Land Community College. As part of the Illinois SCOERs program, a team from Lincoln Land Community College will develop Open Education Resource textbook and ancillary materials for Human Nutrition (BIO-170) to decrease course material costs for major and non-major students lessening financial barriers and addressing equity and access issues. The team will also create learning activities involving 3D models and manipulatives (e.g. macromolecules) intended to engage students in contextual awareness and inquiry, as well as instructional information for 3D printing. In addition, a service-learning project that can be replicated will be developed as part of the OER to enrich creative inquiry and discovery while promoting social awareness. LLCC’s proposed project supports the Illinois SCOERs theme “The Human Condition: Care, Development, and Lifespan” as the course provides an overview of human nutrition, its importance in body structure and function throughout the life cycle, and challenges and solutions to food safety and security.

Human Sexuality from A Sex Positivity Perspective

Dr. Shannon Dermer from Governors State University proposed a project on “Human Sexuality from A Sex Positivity Perspective.”Human Sexuality from A Sex Positivity Perspective will be an open educational resource (OER) human sexuality textbook created by the authors. Several open educational resource textbooks on sexuality and gender exist, but these tend toward upper-level gender/sexuality studies courses rather than a general, survey course on human sexuality. Human sexuality courses are often part of general education offerings at community colleges and universities. The average cost of a human sexuality textbook is $70-$150. A comprehensive OER human sexuality by Goerling and Wolf (2022) is available, and the mini chapters cover a wide variety of topics. The proposed textbook will cover fewer topics, more in-depth, and will be written from a sex positivity perspective. From this perspective, human sexuality is viewed as a core aspect of the human lifespan and relationships, healthy sexuality as part of overall wellness, and sexual rights and sexual pleasure as part of human rights. The outcome of this project will be an OER textbook that includes twelve in-depth chapters that cover the concept of sexuality, sexual theories and the sex positivity model, anatomy and physiology, sexual development across the lifespan, consent, sexual rights, religion, sexual behaviors and sexual pleasure, research from a sex positivity perspective, and law and sex positivity. Each of the chapters will include objectives, content, questions/activities (including 3D printing when appropriate), and other resources. The goal is to offer a comprehensive, in-depth text from a sexual rights perspective and to conceptualize sexuality as a healthy part of overall wellness.