‘A real impact’: UWG awarded $165,000 in textbook transformation grants -

by Amadeu Guimaraes

The University of West Georgia was recently awarded approximately $165,000 in grants by Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG) to help students cover their cost of course materials.

The grants are intended to explore and expand course materials transformation to include the adoption, adaptation and creation of Open Educational Resources (OER); the adoption of materials available through GALILEO and USG libraries; and the use of other no-cost and low-cost materials.

“Affordable Learning Georgia is a system-wide initiative that the University of West Georgia worked diligently to promote throughout the last year,” said Dr. David Jenks, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at UWG.“Reducing costs to students is essential to promote student success throughout the college experience, graduation, and into their careers. Having our faculty lead these efforts through the development of OER resources is simply outstanding, and I congratulate them all on their awards.”

ALG’s grants have been awarded to several University System of Georgia institutions through different rounds. UWG projects have been selected to receive the award on multiple rounds, the most recent being awarded in Spring 2020.

Among the awarded institutions, UWG saw the highest number of projects awarded at five with a total of $65,600 in grants. Faculty members receiving grants are Dr. Scott Sykes, College of Arts, Culture and Scientific Inquiry (CACSI); Dr. Megumi Fujita, CACSI; Dr. Elizabeth Pope, College of Education; Dr. Lisa Gezon, CACSI; and Dr. Anne Gaquere-Parker, CACSI.

The grants have made a great impact on the lives of UWG students through the years. The number of students impacted by the last round of grants at UWG alone was approximately 4,200, who saved approximately $845,000 in course material costs.

The Textbook Transformation Grant funding will provide students course materials during times in which this type of support is more than welcome due to the switch of many courses to online format.

“We are very excited that the efforts faculty are making to reduce cost to students is being recognized by the USG,” said Denise Overfield, associate vice president for Academic Affairs at UWG. “These grants have a real impact on the lives of our students, and we plan to continue to apply for them.”