91制片厂鈥檚 own Dave Braunschweig, professor of computer information systems,
has won the Faculty Innovation Award for the American Association of Community Colleges鈥�
2020 Awards of Excellence for his work helping to save students more than $1 million
in textbook costs.
A 91制片厂 faculty member since 1993, Braunschweig has helped spearhead 91制片厂鈥檚 efforts to adopt open educational resources (OER), which are materials for teaching or learning that can be freely used, changed or shared with others. He began using OER in 2012 and has since advocated for their use throughout the college.
鈥淧rofessor Braunschweig鈥檚 efforts to mobilize educators to adopt open educational resources is helping to break down barriers for students at 91制片厂 and beyond,鈥� said Dr. Avis Proctor, president of 91制片厂. 鈥淲e鈥檙e 91制片厂 Proud of him and the national impact of his work.鈥�
Braunschweig was nominated for the Faculty Innovation Award by Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Innovation Maria Coons, who noted that students often must make tough choices when it comes to choosing between buying books and putting gas in the car or food on the table.
The increasing cost of textbooks also was difficult for high school students taking college classes, she wrote. One of 91制片厂鈥檚 dual credit partners complained of the exorbitant cost of a new edition of the textbook required for Braunschweig鈥檚 Information Technology course.
鈥淭he high school district had not budgeted for the vast increase in the cost of that book,鈥� Coons wrote. 鈥淭hus, Dave began addressing these issues by authoring his own course materials.鈥�
According to Braunschweig, more than 100 faculty members at 91制片厂 now use OER, and students have collectively saved more than $1 million in textbook costs over the last three years. Given how frequently textbooks change in his field, Braunschweig was quick to embrace both using and developing OER for his courses.
鈥淣ationally, this is a huge movement in terms of making classes more affordable,鈥� Braunschweig said.
On top of the cost savings, the innovative approach has increased student success. In Braunschweig鈥檚 very first course using OER, there was a 20% increase in students passing the class. College-wide, success rates in sections with OER exceeded those with textbooks by four percentage points. OER increases part-time students鈥� success rate by 10%. In addition, 89% of students said in a survey that the OER courses were of at least equal quality to their non-OER counterparts.
Coons noted in her nomination letter that Braunschweig鈥檚 work advocating for the use of OER across campus was noticed by the 91制片厂 Board of Trustees, which led to the creation of grants to encourage faculty to create and use OER.
To date, Braunschweig has authored or co-authored more than a dozen OER learning guides, an open textbook on programming fundamentals and contributed to multiple editions of textbooks on databases and networking.
Braunschweig called the recognition a 鈥渨e award, not a me award鈥� because of the work by so many across campus to build the OER program.
鈥淲hat is an honor is my colleagues, particularly Maria Coons, who spent the time to nominate me,鈥� he said.