A few months back we posted an article about UMass Amherst giving faculty stipends to create open educational materials, now Temple University is doing something similar. Details are not clear whether Temple is following an open textbook model but they are encouraging faculty to develop digital alternatives to a traditional textbooks. Temple is awarding $1,000 grants to faculty to find ways to give students low cost course materials that faculty can build from scratch, according to this story. One of the goals of the program is to create new kinds of learning experiences while keeping costs down for students.
What’s happening at Temple could be a new trend in higher Ed. As more downward pressure is put on keeping college affordable faculty and institutions are going to find ways to deliver better quality with less money. This model is very similar to our message about growing custom course materials that gives the students exactly what they need to succeed in the classroom.
