ALG Champion Spotlight: LaVerne McLaughlin, Albany State University
My journey with ALG began in 2014 at the beginning of the Affordable Learning Georgia era. At Albany State, we have come a very long way in support of ALG through the faculty and staff creations of textbook grants and selection of open resources for the students at the university.
We continue the work of marketing the initiative so that faculty will chose open resources for students in their courses. It still is not an easy task to get all open resources that are free textbooks. It would be an advantage to all USG students if all of the USG textbooks that have been created by USG faculty were used as texts for all freshmen students. This would alleviate cost for the incoming freshman class. Then, high-cost text would be the next consideration for free text books for their courses.
The first group of faculty who used free textbooks in their classes are pioneers who believed in helping students save money and have their textbook on the first day of class. I would like to see many more participants using open textbook and have the textbook cited in Banner so that students can take advantage of low-cost academic resources.
Over the years, I have been a featured Library Champion and have had the opportunity to create a video at the inception of the Affordable Learning Georgia. I have had great faculty supporters, and I have had those who have been reluctant to using open resources. There is a wealth of materials that can be used to supplement teaching and learning in the classroom through open resources. This is an era of digital learners, and we must meet them at the level in which they are capable of learning and retaining best.
Albany State's inaugural ALG faculty member recipient was Arun Saha, College Physic, Algebra, Open Stax for $7,000, who received a plaque at the first ALG conference in Athens, Ga. He made ASU so very proud. Today, Albany State is proud of many recipients. Since that time, several faculty members have received textbook grants that total approximately over $170,000.
These are some of the activities that have been have included during the past 10 years: ALG presentations at faculty/staff fall conferences, ALG demonstrations of how to locate open resources and ALG materials, Affordable Learning Georgia video with ASU faculty, distribution listing of core textbook alternatives, and how to help students discover open resources for supplementing coursework. Marketing materials promoting the use of ALG and OER continue to be updated and promoted. ALG is also featured in Georgia View as a tool to help students locate textbooks and supplementary resources needed for their distance learning courses.
Serving as Library Champion has been a rich experience. I believe that this kind of program will continue to enhance the teaching and learning efforts of our faculty and students. I hope that one day the core textbooks alternatives will be used as part of the freshman experience in the USG institutions as a whole.