Kate Boulay and Jeff Kessler Win 2021 Open Textbook Faculty Incentive Award
Senior Lecturers Kate Boulay and Jeffrey Kessler are among the awardees for UIC's initiative to reduce textbook costs for students, the Open Textbook Faculty Incentive for Kessler's ENGL 200 - English Grammar and Style course and Boulay's ENGL/MOVI 121 - Introduction to Moving Image Arts course.
The Open Textbook Faculty Incentive program responds to a common hurdle for UIC students: the cost of textbooks. Not being able to afford textbooks may cause students to drop a course or fail to complete assignments. In response to this situation, UIC's Undergraduate Student Government passed a resolution asking faculty to consider using Open Education Resources (OERs) when possible, which the UIC Faculty Senate endorsed.
The Open Textbook Faculty Incentive program supports this goal by awarding faculty incorporation of OERs into their courses and providing support for developing those resources if necessary.
Read more about the initiative and this year's winners at UIC Today.