Indiana educators receive grants to create open textbooks
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The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) has awarded PALSave Textbook Creation grants to fund eight open textbooks from faculty authors at the network’s supported institutions.
The grants allow educators to develop open textbooks that are freely available online, making them part of a Lilly Endowment-funded statewide effort to reduce the cost of course materials for college students.
The projects were selected for funding based on proposal quality, clearly defined goals, need within the current open access body of work, and adoption potential within PALNI schools and beyond, the organization said.
“PALNI is excited to award these grants, as they recognize the unwavering commitment of faculty authors from our supported institutions toward enhancing the affordability and accessibility of education for students,” says Amanda Hurford, PALNI’s Scholarly Communications Director and PALSave project lead. “The authors’ dedication to making textbook affordability a reality makes a big impact—not just in Indiana, but across the globe—and we look forward to supporting them in the process.”
Authors receiving the grants will be given up to $6,500 per project in overlapping two-year cohorts. Along with the financial support, PALNI said it also coordinates peer review, copy editing, layout, and hosting services to assist grant recipients in their textbook creation.
The textbooks are published on Pressbooks as well as being submitted to the Open Textbook Library and OER repositories.
Titles and authors selected for the PALSave Textbook Creation Grants include:
- “Public Speaking and Democratic Participation: Speech, Deliberation, and Analysis in the Civic Realm, 2nd ed.” by Jennifer Abbott, Professor of Rhetoric at Wabash College, and co-authors Todd McDorman, Dean at Wabash College, and David Timmerman, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Professor of Rhetoric at Carthage College
- “Curriculum Development for Christian Ministry,” by Karen Jones, Professor of Christian Thought and Practice at Huntington University
- “The Exciting Dynamics of State and Local Government,” by Laura Merrifield Wilson, Associate Professor of History and Political Science, and co-author Greg Schufeldt, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Indianapolis
- “Leveraging Data Visualization to Communicate Effectively,” by Jennie Mitchell, Professor Emerita at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, and co-author Trent Deckard, storytelling expert and lecturer at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business
- “An Introduction to Legal Philosophy,” by Peter Murphy, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Indianapolis
- “Cultures and Civilizations of the Hispanic Countries,” by Angela Pacheco-Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Spanish at Taylor University
- “Concepts of Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Research Methods,” by Cibele Webb, Associate Professor and co-authors Nicole Mentag and Lori Pajakowski, Assistant Professors, Department of Nursing Science, at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame
- “Comparative Vertebrate and Human Anatomy: Ecology, Evolution, and Function,” by Vanessa Young, Assistant Professor of Biology at St. Mary’s College, and co-authors Bill Ryerson, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences, at Saint Anselm College, and Lisa Whitenack, Associate Professor, Biology, at Allegheny College