Recent Course Affordability Grants

The Library recently awarded two implementation grants and an investigation grant.

Professors Farhan Abedin and Justin Corvino received a joint stipend for Math 264 – Differential Equations with Linear Algebra. Professors Abedin and Corvino had previously taught their sections of this course with textbooks that they each felt did not organize topics for the course well and were inadequate in presenting the linear algebra components. For Spring 2024 they have replaced these respective texts with a set of shared notes, examples, and exercises/homework problems/quizzes that they’ve organized in a modular fashion. This new approach better complements their teaching needs and presents course concepts in a way that Abedin and Corvino feel is more appropriately geared towards Lafayette students. This $2,000 joint grant will result in a per-semester approximate savings for students of $13,515, using estimates of 85 students (across 4 sections) and $159 per textbook (based on an average of the costs of the books that Profs. Abedin and Corvino previously taught with).

Professor Adam Biener had previously received an investigation grant for Econ 215 — Health Economics, which he used to research alternatives to the traditional microeconomics book he had been using. During this phase Biener identified an Open Educational Resource (OER) text, Intermediate Microeconomics by Patrick Emerson, and received a Course Affordability grant to restructure his course for the spring semester (i.e. integrating new readings and modules into Moodle and updating course notes and homeworks) using this text to teach microeconomics principles along with a different OER he was already using for healthcare topics. This $1,000 grant will result in a per-semester savings for students of $3,000, based on estimates of 30 students and $100 per textbook.

Emma Hetrick, College Writing Program Coordinator, has received an investigation grant to begin researching alternatives to using the St. Martin’s Handbook as a writing guide for first year students. She plans to use the summer to identify some potential options and pilot her findings in her FYS in Fall 2024. If successful, Hetrick’s results could provide FYS instructors across the college with an alternative to assigning their students the St. Martin’s, which retails new for $113.