Clemson Libraries Receives $1.2 million to Develop Free Textbooks for Advanced Manufacturing Classes
Yang Wu, open resources librarian and principal investigator on the grant, said the project will help remove barriers that prevent students from entering STEM fields. Clemson’s work on the grant is being done by Clemson Libraries; the College and Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; and the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development. Free for students to use, the textbooks also contain animations, interactive simulations and other activities that visualize and make complicated concepts easier for students to understand. Designed for students of all backgrounds, the textbooks are American Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant and contain inclusive language and examples. Supporting students in rural areas, who often lack internet connectivity, there will also be two versions of the textbooks, in print and e-format, and animations and interactive activities can also be downloaded for offline use. The books and digital materials will be available for faculty to use in their courses from 2024-2026.
Clemson Libraries Celebrates 60 Years of Integration with Events, Exhibits
College students spend an average of about $1,200 per year on textbooks, according to the Education Data Initiative. Compared to other higher education expenses, textbooks have been the fastest-rising student expense of the last two decades, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Clemson University is partnering with Tuskegee University and Trident Technical Community College to help address that issue by creating their open educational resource materials, specifically for classes in STEM fields. The project is supported by a $1.24 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The Collaborative Development of Robotics Education and Advanced Manufacturing Open Educational Resources (Co- DREAM OER) project received $760,000 last year to develop three openly licensed textbooks and other digital educational materials on robotics — one at the technical college level, one at the bachelor’s degree level and one at the graduate education level. The latest round of funding will allow for the development of six more textbooks in the areas of advanced manufacturing and mechatronics, subjects that were chosen because they support the growing advanced manufacturing industry in South Carolina and other parts of the country.
Clemson Libraries was proud to play a role in the University’s celebration of 60 years of integration with a number of special events and exhibits. The Libraries sponsored a talk by graduate student Marquise Deont’T Drayton titled “Harvey Gantt’s Rise After Fall: The Integration of Clemson College.” Drayton used archival footage, campus maps and YouTube visuals to tell the story of Gantt’s legal battle to enter Clemson as the first African-American student in 1963. Two exhibits also helped illustrate the story. “Separate But Not Equal: A Deep Dive into the Segregation of Academia” was on display outside of the Gunnin Architecture Library and chronicled the historic events of the 1950s and 1960s that lead up to Gantt’s admission to Clemson. “Harvey Gantt’s Journey to Clemson,” on display on the fourth floor of Cooper Library,
used documents and photographs from Special Collections and Archives, to showcase Gantt’s time at Clemson. Cooper Library was selected as the host site for the celebration gala in January, which was attended by Gantt as well as President Jim Clements, President Emeritus Jim Barker, many members of the Board of Trustees, and student leaders.
Open Scholarship By The Numbers
• $452,784.50 in open access publishing costs saved through transformative agreements with publishers • $101,000 in student textbook savings through OER awards • 435 checkouts of the textbook lending program • 88 classes supported by textbook lended • 4 student created textbooks through Pressbooks • Organized 4 webinars and 1 live event on OER, with 125 people in attendance • 14 instructions on OER for credit courses
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