UTA Libraries’ Open Educational Resources Make Textbooks More Accessible

Over the summer months, the efforts of the Open Educational Resources Department (OER) at UTA Libraries have resulted in six textbooks being published, with a seventh nearing completion. The OER publishing service, Mavs Open Press, offered at the university, provides no-cost services for UTA faculty, staff, and students who want to publish their materials. 

Course materials published by Mavs Open Press are openly licensed using Creative Commons licenses to allow for revision and reuse. These materials are then offered in various digital formats free of charge. Print copies may be available for purchase through the UTA bookstore or can be purchased directly from XanEdu.  

Jessica McClean, Director of Open Educational Resources, stated that the ability to publish textbooks here on campus makes information not only more accessible but affordable to everyone. 

“There are lots of benefits to having Open Educational Resources. One of them is the cost for students. Textbooks (digitally) available through OER are at no cost to students,” McClean said. “Another benefit of creating OER for faculty is the opportunity to customize and make the textbook exactly the way they want it.” 

McClean stated that by utilizing this resource, faculty members could create a textbook that works better for their course. Faculty members can localize the material they are teaching, which connects better with students over a commercial textbook.  

If a faculty member does not wish to create a textbook, they can look at adopting an already-published book by Mavs Open Press.  

Funding allows faculty to create these textbooks from the UTA CARES Grant Program, sponsored by UTA Libraries. Information about the program can be found online at https://libguides.uta.edu/OERgrants/home.  

The grant program was established in 2017 to support educators interested in practicing open education by either adopting free content such as existing OER or library-licensed content or by creating new OER. 

Additionally, the program promotes innovation in teaching and learning through the exploration of open educational practices, such as collaborating with students to produce educational content of value to a broader community. 

The books that have been published or are near completion through Mavs Open Press include: 

• “Microbiomes: Health and the Environment” by Dylan Parks,  

• “Big Data for Epidemiology” by Tiffany Kindratt 

• “Where Does Art Come From?” by Leah McCurdy 

• “Building Information Modeling using Revit for Architects and Engineers” by Atefe Makhmalbaf  

• “How History is Made: A Student’s Guide to Reading, Writing and Thinking in the Discipline” by Stephanie Cole; Kimberly Breuer; Scott W. Palmer; and Brandon Blakeslee 

• “Introduction to Social Work: A Look Across the Profession” By James Langford, LCSW and Craig Keaton, PhD, LMSW 

• “Producción de Noticias Televisivas en Español en Estados Unidos de América” by Julián Rodríguez.  

Mavs Open Press published its first book in 2018. Since that time, there have been 24 books published and with most funded through UTA CARES Grant Program. These books will benefit not only members of the UTA community, but since they are available online other universities can use the materials as well. 

People interested in utilizing OER’s Mavs Open Press to publish a textbook or use an already-created book can contact the department. The OER department can be reached at OER@uta.edu.