Textbook Heroes

Amy Rossomondo

Associate Professor
Spanish & Portuguese

OER created: 

Acceso, a collaboratively created, web-based curriculum for intermediate-level Spanish studies that structures critical exploration of the Spanish-speaking world to promote linguistic development, critical cultural literacy and intercultural learning.

OER impact: 

Since Accesso’s launch in 2009, we are excited to say that the resource has saved KU students more than $900,000 in textbook costs and has since been adopted by numerous colleges and universities. When we first decided to create our own digital materials that structured students' interaction with online cultural production, it made perfect sense to have the project be openly available to anyone who might find it useful. I am proudest of the learning that KU undergraduate students achieve through Acceso and the opportunities for pedagogical development that it has created for our graduate students. I am always excited to get an email or meet a new colleague at a conference who is successfully implementing the materials or adapting them for their own contexts.

Forward thinking: 

We are looking forward to working on a complete site redesign of Acceso to be debuted in the fall of 2019 with the support of KU's new Open Language Resource Center, one of sixteen National Language Resource Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education. It is especially exciting that this financial support has coincided with Acceso's 10th anniversary!