JANUARY 22, 2025 — The UTSA Libraries has awarded 12 faculty members 2024-2025 Adopt-a-Free Textbook grants to improve education while reducing the cost of course materials for students. The recipients represent various academic disciplines, including Russian, education, history, public administration, humanities and social sciences, women's studies, environmental sciences, sociology and chemistry. The grants will result in nearly $240,000 in student savings over the grant period.
This year's awardees are advancing UTSA's mission of affordability and inclusivity in education by adopting, adapting or creating free and low-cost course materials or Open Educational Resource (OER) textbooks as the primary instructional materials in their courses. The savings generated by these efforts support students financially and enhance access to high-quality educational resources.
"The Adopt-a-Free Textbook program is a cornerstone of UTSA Libraries’ commitment to student success,” said Dean Hendrix, UTSA vice provost and university librarian. By providing faculty with the ability to provide free and open educational resources, we help ensure that all students, regardless of their financial situation, have access to the materials they need to excel.”
The Adopt-a-Free Textbook program allows faculty to provide free and open educational resources to students.
He added, “Since its inception in 2016, the UTSA Libraries has proudly managed this program, supporting faculty in their efforts to reduce costs and enhance learning outcomes for our vibrant student body. As a result, UTSA Libraries has saved UTSA students over $12 million since 2016."
This year’s Adopt-a-Free Textbook grants were awarded to faculty with projects categorized into Adoption, No Cost and Design. These categories reflect the faculty's various approaches to reducing the cost of course materials for UTSA students.
"These grants are vital in ensuring that all students have equal access to the resources they need to succeed, regardless of their financial situation,” said Dee Ann Ivie, UTSA Libraries’ OER coordinator. “We are inspired by our dedicated faculty for their commitment to adopting and creating open educational resources. Their passion for making education more affordable and accessible is truly impactful, and we thank them for their unwavering support of our students' success."
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Covidence is a systematic & scoping review tool used to streamline the process of screening and reviewing articles. Using this software, research teams can easily import studies, perform automatic deduplication, and extract data using templates. This workshop will show attendees how to start a review in Covidence, add collaborators, and get started on screening.
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Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryEach fall and spring semester, students convene at the Main Campus at UTSA with booths, ideas and prototypes. A crowd of judges, local organizations, students, faculty and sponsors walk around and talk to the students about their projects and ask questions. Students get the real-life experience of "pitching" their project with hopes of getting funding or support to move to the next level.
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AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
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We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
