Textbook Heroes

Abbey Dvorak

Associate Professor of Music Therapy
School of Music

OER Adopted:

"Research Methods in Psychology" after discovering the resource in the Open Textbook Library for her Psychology of Music courses and modified other courses using OER.

Cost considerations:

After receiving an invitation from a colleague at the libraries to attend an Open Textbook Network workshop in spring 2016, I became instantly intrigued. I had a lot of mixed emotions during that workshop because I loved what they were doing, but I was also appalled that I had never realized how much students were paying for textbooks. It was then that I realized I may not have control of other aspects in a student’s life, but I have control over this. After adopting “Research Methods in Psychology,” I have saved students thousands of dollars over the last few years.

OTN connection:

After adopting the open textbook, I started considering other things I can do to help the OER effort. I started working with OTN as a faculty presenter and so far, I’ve given multiple presentations at several universities. I remember the impact that an OTN speaker had on me, and I wondered if every person in that room felt the same inspiration. I try to keep that in mind when I share this critical information with other faculty — there may be that one person who realizes what a change they can make in a student’s life.