Professors receive nearly $14,000 to fund Open Educational Resources
Several Cornell faculty members received grants worth a total of nearly $14,000 during the second round of applications for the Iowa Private Academic Libraries Open Educational Resources (OER) Project.
Congratulations to:
- Watson M. Davis Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Ann Cannon
- Assistant Professor of Computer Science Ajit Chavan
- Assistant Professor of Statistics Tyler George
- David Joyce Professor of Economics and Business Todd Knoop
- Instructor of Electrical & Computer Engineering Dhanushka Kudathanthirige
- William Deskin Professor of Chemistry Cindy Strong
Professors will use the funding, which ranges in value from $1,000 to $5,000, in many different ways and on many different projects. OER can be teaching, learning, or research resources such as videos, textbooks, online tutorials, software, or lab books that have been created for anyone to use. In fact, due to the open license they carry, educators can use, reuse, and redistribute them as they see fit, at no cost.
“This second round of grants provides additional support to our faculty as they expand their use of Open Educational Resources,” said Consulting Librarian for Social Sciences & Special Collections Meghan Yamanishi, who helped guide this grant effort. “Using these resources in class makes it easier for students to get the materials they need, when they need them, at little or no cost. And because the materials are open license, faculty can adjust and modify them so they’re tailored to the block plan and that faculty member’s specific syllabus.”
Strong, for example, will be teaming up with Professor of Chemistry Marty St. Clair at Coe College to create an online textbook.
“We’re very excited about this opportunity! The material in the Advanced Analytical Chemistry course changes rapidly, and an open online textbook will allow us to provide links from the course material to up-to-date research articles, simulations, videos, and applications of the course topics,” Strong said. “By sharing our efforts and combining our areas of expertise, we will be able to produce an effective (and free!) OER that will benefit students at both colleges. We are particularly excited to be able to create links from the course material to presentations and publications by a very diverse set of chemists.”
This summer Cornell announced the first round of OER grant recipients, which included Associate Professor of Kinesiology Christi Johnson, Jerry and Carole Ringer Distinguished Professor of Sociology Tori Barnes-Brus, Edwin R. and Mary E. Mason Professor of Languages John Gruber-Miller, Professor of Russian Lynne Ikach, and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Misha Quill.
The Open Educational Resources Project is funded by the Iowa Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund.
