Knox Faculty Design Free Textbooks through Open Educational Resources Grant

Knox College faculty members are leading an innovative push toward educational affordability for students at Knox and around the world through an Open Educational Resources (OER) grant funded by the Illinois State Library. Titled "Making the Liberal Arts Affordable and Innovative: OER Across the Curriculum," this initiative is designed to develop five open educational resources that will significantly impact over 10 percent of Knox students across various disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that are freely available for use and reuse. These resources typically come with Creative Commons licenses, which permit free distribution, remixing, and adaptation by other campuses worldwide. 

Project leader and Director of Seymour Library Anne Thomason explained that by reducing access barriers to textbooks, specifically high costs, the project offers an accessible alternative. “The high cost of textbooks can be prohibitive,” she added. “This project will both make course materials more affordable and improve learning outcomes for students.”

The project also supports the College’s dedication to fostering critical thinking and interdisciplinary learning in a supportive environment. This ties directly to Knox’s commitment to increasing access to all qualified students of varied backgrounds, races, and conditions, regardless of financial means. A unique aspect of this project is its participatory approach—students will contribute to the creation and editing of OER texts, fostering deeper intellectual engagement with faculty and the learning experience.

Key faculty members involved in this initiative include: 

• Associate Professor of History Danielle Fatkin 
• Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Associate Professor of Mathematics-Statistics Ole Forsberg 
• Associate Professor of Biology Mathew Jones-Rhoades
• Assistant Professor of Biology Mark Slabodnick
• Associate Professor of Political Science Andy Civettini 
• Associate Dean for Curriculum and Assessment; Professor of Biology Judy Thorn 

Their collaborative efforts will bring tailored OER materials that best meet the specific needs of the Knox curriculum, going beyond what is commercially available. 

Forsberg’s textbook, Linear Models and Rurità Kràlovstvì: Using the Kingdom for Greater Insight, is a project seven years in the making. He explained that, when designing this textbook, he looked at pacing that would fit better into Knox’s 10-week term schedule. Forsberg says he leveraged his entire 30 years of teaching experience to fine-tune the reading experience and create something that not only better functions within a Knox curriculum but, hopefully, throughout academia. 

“It’s not just about my own students. It’s about making this available to students across the world,” he added. 

With decades of experience between them, Thorn, Slabodnick, and Jones-Rhoades are collaborating on a textbook, utilizing cancer biology as a unifying theme. Thorn explained that this choice in theme was aimed at providing information that would be relevant to anyone reading, as the disease impacts so many lives. “We felt it was something that, whether or not you ever take another science course, it has a chance to touch your life,” she said. 

Jones-Rhoades pointed to the textbooks around his office, noting that many of the books assigned in college-level biology courses can cost over $200. He also noted that textbooks can have information that is not necessarily related to the course they purchased. While this benefits anyone looking to dive deeper into the subject, he says the textbook they are collaborating on will be streamlined for those taking Bio-130. The group plans to have the first version of their textbook available by spring term 2025. 

To support faculty in this endeavor, Knox contracted an instructional designer and an accessibility specialist from the University of Chicago. These experts led workshops focused on the effective use of OER, universal design practices, and ensuring that digital resources are accessible to all students while boosting faculty interest in OER by demonstrating how such resources can enhance teaching methods.

This initiative is expected to have a lasting impact on Knox’s academic culture. Thomason adds that the grant is not just about providing free textbooks—it also represents a commitment to educational innovation and equity, ensuring that students receive a high-quality, affordable, and forward-thinking education.

“Open educational resources aid with values important to a Knox education,” Thomason added. “They improve equity and access to material by reducing costs, improving academic outcomes in terms of completion and grades, and encouraging pedagogical innovation as OER allows faculty to customize and adapt materials.”