Two Ohio University instructors have been honored for saving thousands of students more than $200,000 on textbooks.
The University System of Ohio announced yesterday that Raymond Frost and Lauren Kenyo comprise one of 10 teams to win its 2011 Ohio Faculty Innovator Award. The award honors groups of instructors who work to creatively reduce student need to purchase textbooks with alternative learning methods, said Rob Evans, press secretary for the Board of Regents.
“The faculty and students can take advantage of the technology available,” Evans said, “These faculty were selected on the basis of how they could lower student costs while still keeping the quality of the education.”
Frost and Kenyo work in the College of Businesses’ Department of Management Information Systems. The instructors developed a digital resource by which students plan and develop proposals for iPhone applications and a website to market the applications. The students then purchase and invest in the applications, simulating market operations online, according to a news release.
The innovation saved each of the 1,700 students who take Introduction to Management Information Systems $121 in textbook fees, for a total savings of approximately $205,700, according to the release.
"Ohio's economic competiveness is built on the strength of its higher education system and keeping access to that system within reach of Ohio families," said Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut in the release.
Sixteen professors from ten universities received the award. Their innovations saved students and universities across the state up to $875,000 this year, and some of the innovations will continue to save money in coming years.
Frost and Kenyo did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Fingerhut also announced a pilot program between the University System of Ohio and Flat World Knowledge, the largest publisher of free college textbooks. The program will allow 1,000 students at Ohio universities to receive digital textbooks for free, according to another news release.
Faculty who participate in the study will be able to offer their students online textbooks available as PDFs or on Kindles and iPads, among other formats.
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