Ellen Kang [Champion of Open – Physics]

Describe your open educational resources and/or practices:

For my Physics 2 course (PHY2054), I adopted the OpenStax College Physics e-textbook (by Rice University) as an open educational resource in Fall 2019. I have continued using the open resources for my current PHY2054 course in Fall 2020. In addition, PhET, a free online interactive simulation, was very useful to teach important concepts in physics in a virtual setting.

Describe the impact open educational resources and/or practices has had on your teaching and/or students’ learning: 

I believe the OER adoption has had positive impacts on my teaching as well as students’ learning. The free online textbook has enhanced students’ accessibility. Reducing the financial burden of students is important particularly during the pandemic. Further, the fact that the e-textbook can be customized for each instructor has allowed for greater flexibility in the preparation of my course materials. The OER adoption is a group effort among instructors in the Physics Department for course alignment.

What is one piece of advice for other faculty interested in OER/P?

I recommend OER/P adoption because it will provide an accessible and flexible platform that can enhance both your teaching and students’ learning.

Related Resources 

• OpenStax College Physics: https://openstax.org/details/books/college-physics
• College Physics through UCF Pressbooks: https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/phy2054ehk/
• PhET (free online interactive simulation): https://phet.colorado.edu/