(The Center Square) – The University of New Mexico will receive $2.1 million from the federal government for textbooks as part of the federal Open Textbook Grant due to the school’s existing support for Open Educational Resources.
UNM will use the grant funding to establish the New Mexico Open Educational Resources Consortium, aiming to help faculty across the state adopt open-access materials.
This grant, one of five awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, will “transform the landscape of education in New Mexico,” according to the university.
The consortium will provide resources and funding to faculty at The University of New Mexico, Central New Mexico Community College, and Santa Fe Community College.
“Open textbooks can dramatically lower costs for college students and remove unnecessary burdens for those pursuing higher education. Through my role on the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have been proud to secure funding to support the Department of Education’s Open Textbook Pilot Program,” U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, said. “I am pleased to now welcome this major investment to help UNM provide more cost-effective course materials to more students,”
Here is how UNESCO describes Open Educational Resources:
“Open Educational Resources are learning, teaching, and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permits no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others. Creating the NMOER-CPP will enable educators across the state to access OER materials aligned with the outcomes included in the New Mexico General Education Curriculum.”
UNM University Libraries Open Educational Resources Librarian Jennifer Jordan serves as the principal investigator for the program; Elisha Allen, UNM director of Online Strategies and Academic Technologies, is its co-principal investigator.
“This grant program will be pivotal for OER in New Mexico because using open curriculum takes more time and effort for faculty to adopt and adapt,” Jordan said. “This grant will support faculty and encourage multi-institutional adoption and collaboration of open curriculum.”
Established in 2022, UNM’s Open Educational Resource initiative aims to offer faculty members support to adopt low and no-cost textbook and class material solutions for their courses when it can be done.
“This grant program will be pivotal for OER in New Mexico because using open curriculum takes more time and effort for faculty to adopt and adapt,” Jordan said. “This grant will support faculty and encourage multi-institutional adoption and collaboration of open curriculum.”
During the grant cycle, The consortium plans to work with the University of New Mexico Press, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the University Libraries. The grant funding will help it create an Open Educational Resources center within New Mexico where faculty can obtain research and establish an open curriculum.
Here is a list of classes that will use the technology, according to a spokesman from the school:
CHEM 1215/1225 – Gen Chem I and II
CHEM 1215L/1225L – Gen Chem I and II labs
CHEM 2310C – Quantitative Chemical analysis
LLSS 430 – Teaching Writing to Children and Adolescents
LLSS 527 – Advanced Teaching Writing
Additionally, the grant will pay for a subscription to Pressbooks, an open textbook platform. The school will use it to support other courses, including Heritage Spanish and English Composition, the spokesman said.
Central New Mexico Community College and Santa Fe Community College have not determined which classes will use Open Educational Resources yet.
