The Future of PA-ADOPT

Posted on by Marc Drumm
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Back in October 2020, the concept of what eventually became PA-ADOPT was starting to be discussed around West Chester University’s Office of Digital Learning & Innovation (now the Teaching & Learning Center) and the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs. The idea to bring four Pennsylvania state system universities together to apply for a U.S. Department of Education (DOE) grant aimed at creating free and open electronic textbooks was an ambitious one, but having already established an eTextbook program for faculty that had been successfully generating books for four years, we liked our chances.

Fast-forward six years later, we have 22 new eTextbooks from a variety of STEM and Writing fields thanks to the DOE’s Open Textbooks Pilot Program The data collected from these books so far is showing that they’ve had the effect we thought they would: average GPA up, average failure and withdrawal rates down, and hundreds of thousands of dollars saved by the students in the four Pennsylvania universities that used them. Beyond that, these books have been used at over 100 educational institutions around the world, cited in other scholarly works, and have received high marks in reviews from other higher education faculty.

While it had been my hope to find a way to continue and possibly even expand this program after the grant ended in August 2026, I’m sorry to say that the decision has been made to end it. I am extremely proud of everything we have accomplished and will continue to look for ways to help meet the needs of faculty and students by building OER textbooks.

So, what exactly does this mean going forward?

  • No new books will be produced by PA-ADOPT.
  • The PA-ADOPT web site will remain online for the foreseeable future, continuing to make our existing books available for download.
  • While there will no longer be an organized method of supporting our faculty authors, they are free to make updates to their books on their own, and we will continue to be available to provide those updated files on this site.
  • Users are welcome to contact us about any issues they’ve encountered with our books, and we will pass those on to the faculty authors, but there is no guarantee that they will be fixed.

My thanks to everyone who has been a part of this program and who has used (and continues to use) our books. It has been an unforgettable and rewarding journey.

Marc Drumm
Principal Investigator, PA-ADOPT

Learn About PA-ADOPT at OLC Innovate 2024

Posted on by Marc Drumm
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OLC Innovate 2024

If you’re planning to attend the upcoming OLC Innovate conference in Denver, stop by to hear Marc Drumm, PA-ADOPT’s Principal Investigator, and Hannah Glatt, Learning Experience and eTextbook Designer, present “How a University’s eTextbook Development Program Became a Multi-Institutional OER Consortium: PA-ADOPT” on Friday, April 12 from 11:15am to noon MT. We’ll talk about the approach we took to introducing West Chester University faculty to producing their own eTextbooks, the methods we use and topics we teach, and how this eventually led to receiving a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand this program into leading four Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) institutions in a three-year project to create OER eTextbooks focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Health, and Writing courses.

PA-ADOPT Discussed in ODLI on Air Podcast

Posted on by Hannah Glatt
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PA-ADOPT’s Marc Drumm, Hannah Glatt, and Dr. Jordan Schugar had to opportunity to discuss the WCU eTextbook Initiative and PA-ADOPT in the April 5th, 2023 episode of ODLI on Air from West Chester University.

Episode Description: Marc Drumm and Hannah Glatt from the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation share what goes into designing and creating a digital textbook for both the eTextbook Initiative and PA ADOPT Grant at West Chester University. Dr. Jordan Schugar weighs in on what motivated him to participate in both of these and how students can benefit from faculty creating their own textbooks.

Take a listen to ODLI on Air: Apple | Spotify. Closed Captioning available via the Spotify link.

PA-ADOPT Featured in PASSHE Connectivity Bulletin

Posted on by Hannah Glatt
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Check out the PASSHE Connectivity Bulletin Article by Loretta MacAlpine “PA-ADOPT: Four System Schools Collaborate to Close Equity Gap” The article discusses that the State System has maintained frozen tuition for four years but faces a challenge with expensive textbooks, especially for Pell-eligible students. To address this, a consortium of four universities in Pennsylvania established the PA-ADOPT program. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education, this initiative aims to create Open Educational Resources (OER) and open electronic textbooks. The program focuses on STEM-H and high-enrollment writing courses. Led by Marc Drumm from West Chester University, faculty members are trained to develop quality eTextbooks, aiming to save students an estimated $400 annually. These eTextbooks will be openly licensed for wider use and modification. The project, targeting more than the initially proposed 24 eTextbooks, is set to conclude in August 2024, funded by a $918,000 grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE).