Choi, Kania, and Elliott Receive UTA CARES Innovation Grant

Drs. Jinny Choi, Sonia Kania, and Ray Elliott from the Department of Modern Languages were awarded a UTA CARES Innovation Grant for their project, “Español Práctico: Introducción al Estudio de la Lengua Española.” The purpose of their project is to create an open textbook for SPAN 3316, a new introductory course for Spanish Linguistics.

The team stated, “We wanted to create a resource that would help our students understand the great history and diversity of the Spanish language. As UTA is a Hispanic-serving institution, we are committed to serving our Latinx students, as well as others interested in studying Hispanic culture, by providing this resource at no cost.  The Spanish program of the Department of the Modern Languages serves a number of students across campus, including hundreds of Spanish majors, minors, and certificate seekers, students in Nursing, Social Work, Bilingual Education, International Business, and many others. We are so grateful for the UTA Cares grant so that we can bring this work to fruition and reach our broad audience.”

The creation of this OER textbook for SPAN 3316 will result in a considerable savings of approximately $7,000 each semester for UTA students. This project will be the first OER textbook in Spanish Linguistics, and it could also serve as a model for other non-traditional Spanish Linguistics OER materials.