PALSave Textbook Creation Grant Awarded to AU Faculty
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Anderson, Ind. — Anderson University is excited to join a statewide initiative to make textbooks more affordable for college students. Dr. Nathan Willowby, the university’s new dean of the seminary and assistant professor of theology and ethics, has been selected to write an open textbook through PALNI’s PALSave Textbook Creation Grant.
Out of 20 grant applications from the 24 PALNI partner campuses, funding has been awarded to six faculty members. Each will write an open textbook over the next two years, which will be freely available on the web. The goal of open textbooks is to help reduce textbook costs and strengthen the retention of students enrolled in colleges and universities. Financed with support from Lilly Endowment Inc., each author will receive up to $5,000 for textbook creation.
After starting a successful pilot book with Butler University Professor James McGrath, the PALNI Open Educational Resource (OER) Publishing Task Force put out a call for proposals in October 2020, receiving 20 in total.
The Publishing Task Force was looking for textbook proposals that were strongly thought through, with their aims clearly stated in the application. The committee was also looking for textbooks that may fill gaps in the current open access body of work. Willowby’s textbook will be titled, Morality for Professionals: Developing a Moral Conscience through Christian Virtue Ethics.
“The PALNI open access textbook program was the perfect opportunity for me to receive editorial and publishing support for a project I’ve been planning for several years,” said. Willowby. “After completion, students in this course will spend $0 on textbooks while improving the overall experience by tailoring the textbook content to AU’s course. I hope others will be able to use this book to incorporate Christian virtue ethics and habit formation into professional ethics courses.”
This grant will give the students in Dr. Willowby classes a book crafted specifically for their avenue of study,” said Heather Myers, public service librarian at AU. “It will also make a dent in the estimated $600 that AU students spend on textbooks each semester. Dr. Willowby and the PALSave grant program are giving AU students a high-quality, cost-effective resource for their education.”
PALNI will coordinate peer reviews, copyediting, layout, and hosting services to assist the faculty in their textbook creation. The open textbooks will be published on the PALNI Press-supported Pressbooks platform alongside other faculty-contributed works, and will ultimately be submitted to the Open Textbook Library and OER repositories. The textbooks will be tentatively available by fall 2023.
Anderson University is on a mission to educate students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult and graduate programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized among top colleges for its business, computer science, cybersecurity, dance, engineering, nursing, and teacher education programs. Anderson University was established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God.