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Faculty Spotlight: Mariana Lazarova, Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy, College of Natural and Health Sciences

03/03/2025
profile-icon Nancy Henke

Mariana LazarovaMariana Lazarova was awarded an LAC exploration grant in 2023 to research the potential of converting AST 109 to low-cost materials, and then received OER grants in 2023-24 to convert AST 101 to OER, and another in 2024-25 to renew and refresh AST 109.

 

What courses did you convert to OER?

I converted to OER two of the large introductory, LAC [Liberal Arts Curriculum] astronomy courses: AST 109: The Cosmos and AST 101: Stars and Galaxies. AST 109 – currently delivered online, asynchronously - is a class very popular with UNC students across all fields of study, from freshmen to seniors. It offers a broad overview of all of astronomy, from the night sky to cosmology. AST 101 is an in-person introductory course with evening observational labs, more narrowly focused on the evolution of stars and galaxies in the universe.

What open resources did you use in your converted course?

The main change for both courses has been in replacing the commercial textbook with the open access one from OpenStax.org Astronomy 2e  by Fraknoi, Morrison and Wolf.

What motivated you to convert your courses?

In short, I wanted to provide immediate and free access to a good textbook. The constantly increasing cost of the textbook I used to require for the courses was placing an undue burden on our students. Plus, students on financial aid always received their textbook funds weeks into the semester, and delayed textbook access adversely affects learning. AST 101 has a large enrollment of 60-70 students every semester. AST 109 is even larger, serving up to 200 students, and given I teach one section of it every Fall, Spring and Summer semesters, I am able to reach up to 1600 undergraduate students over 4 years – a quarter of the UNC undergrads.

Could you describe the process you went through to convert your courses to OER?

Initially, my goal was to convert AST 109 to a low-cost course, not to an OER. I planned to change the commercial textbook to the open access OpenStax one and to replace the commercial online homework resource MasteringAstronomy with a lower cost one from WebAssign. But during my efforts to negotiate a cost below $20 per student per semester with the publisher, I was told that the pricing on their website is outdated, and students would have to pay twice as much. While they were willing to provide the site access at a reduced cost for a year, the price was going to increase afterwards. I am tired of seeing predatory publishers constantly and unjustifiably increase prices – and I wanted to shield my students from that. So I spend much of the summer building my own homework sets on Canvas and in the Fall offering what AST 109 as an OER course, with a free textbook and Canvas homework.

Did you encounter any challenges during the conversion process, and if so, how did you overcome them?

Changing the textbook was seamless. OpenStax provide easy LMS integration with Canvas. My challenge now is to continue to improve the homework sets. The initial one was ok, but the previous homework resource included video tutorial and interactive problems, which are impossible to build in Canvas. Canvas has limitation in how students can demonstrate their knowledge, which has been a bit frustrating.

Have you received any feedback from students about using OER in your course? If so, what has been their response?

On the first day of class in AST 101, in its first offering as an OER, there was a very noticeable sigh of relief when students learned that we will be using OER materials, and that they will not have to pay for a textbook. Previously, with the paid textbook, many students would not access to the textbook and homework for weeks into the semester, which prevented them from completing the graded discissions and put them behind. Now that barrier is not there since the textbook is available to them on day 1.

I compared student test scores between my previous and the new OER offerings of AST 109 and AST 101 and discovered that learning improved by an average of 9% and 8 % in those classes, respectively.

Can you share any advice or tips for other faculty members who are considering converting their courses to OER?

I was reluctant to even try to convert a course to OER. The low-stakes, small exploration OER grant helped me get started thinking of possibilities, without obligations to pursue the change – which was key for me. I believe I might have even inspired some colleagues in the Department to convert their astronomy courses, as I was becoming quite excited about the change and the benefit it would have for students. I discovered there are many resources available which made the work easier than I expected.

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A First-Generation International Student's Journey in the World of OER by Franklina Addae, UNC Applied Statistics and Research Methods Graduate Student
10/30/2024
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Stepping into my new role as a Graduate Assistant focused on Open Educational Resources (OER) has been a profound and eye-opening experience. As a first-generation undergraduate and graduate student from Ghana, a developing country, where access to educational resources is often limited, working with the OER team at UNC has shown me the transformative power of open education. Not only does it challenge the traditional models of learning, but it also offers the potential to change lives by making education more equitable and accessible.

Being a first-generation student from a developing country comes with its own set of challenges. Education has always been seen as a luxury in my community, rather than a right. Textbooks, research materials, and even basic access to information are often out of reach for many students like myself. As I pursued my undergraduate and now graduate degrees, I have always been aware of the financial burden that textbooks and learning resources can place on students. It is not uncommon for students back home to rely on outdated textbooks, shared among classmates, or to go without the materials they need to truly succeed in their studies. This has fueled my passion for exploring alternative approaches to education—ones that do not exclude students based on financial capabilities.

I was fortunate to join the OER team as a Graduate Assistant, a role that perfectly aligns with my passion for education and advocacy. Before joining this team, I had no idea how far-reaching the concept of OER could be. In my home country, the idea of freely accessible, high-quality educational resources is still in its infancy. The cost of textbooks and academic materials is a significant hurdle for many students. For this reason, being part of an OER initiative in a more developed context has truly opened my eyes to the potential impact OER can have, not only in the U.S. but globally.

The primary focus of OER is to provide students with the resources they need to succeed without financial strain. In countries like mine, where families struggle to cover basic living expenses, the cost of textbooks can often be overwhelming. OER help bridge this gap by ensuring that no student is denied access to quality educational resources due to cost. These resources are designed not only to reduce costs but to improve educational outcomes by making up-to-date materials more readily available. The ability to access educational resources without the need for expensive textbooks means that students can focus more on learning and less on how they will afford the next book.

While OER is making great strides in developed countries, there are still significant challenges in introducing these resources to less developed nations. Many countries, including my home country Ghana, face infrastructure issues, such as limited internet access and outdated technology. These problems can prevent students from fully benefiting from the wealth of free resources that OER offer. However, the potential for change is tremendous. With increased awareness and support, we can begin to introduce OER in my home country and others like it. As I continue to grow in my role, I am committed to advocating for the integration of OER in developing countries. This will require collaboration between governments, educational institutions, and organizations dedicated to promoting open access to education. By building awareness around OER and creating the infrastructure to support it, we can take meaningful steps towards a more equitable and accessible educational future.

My journey as an OER Graduate Assistant has only just begun, but I already feel a deep sense of purpose in this role. Education has the power to uplift individuals and transform communities, and OER are critical tools in making that happen. As I continue to work with the OER team, I look forward to being part of this global movement for change, one that prioritizes the needs of students and breaks down the barriers that have traditionally stood in the way of educational success. OER have shown me that education does not need to be restricted by financial constraints—it can and should be available to everyone, regardless of where they are in the world. I am excited to bring this knowledge back to my home country, where I hope to be part of the movement to promote OER and ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed.

Open Educational Resources represent more than just a cost-saving initiative—they represent a fundamental shift in how we view education. OER remove barriers, level the playing field, and ensure that all students have the opportunity to reach their full potential. I look forward to continuing my work with the OER team and contributing to this global vision for a better, more equitable educational landscape.

Education, Higher Education, Open Initiatives & Resources, Open & Affordable Educational Materials
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Meg Du Bray, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
03/19/2024
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Dr. Meg du Bray was awarded an OER grant in the 2022-23 school year as part of Cohort 4 of OER grant recipients. Below, she discusses how she uses OER in her courses, her motivations for using OER, and the process she used (and continues to use) in converting and updating her course.

What course did you convert to OER?

I had previously used OER materials in my ENST 100: Introduction to Environmental Studies course, so I used this opportunity to search for alternatives to the OER textbook I had been using. There’s now an updated edition, and I found additional OER materials to use in other classes.

 

What open resource(s) did you use?

I used OASIS, LibreTexts, MERLOT, and OpenStax most regularly.

 

What motivated you to convert your course to OER?

I know that financial costs are a struggle for many of our students, and I want to make their education as valuable to them as possible, while also minimizing costs to them. I never want financial burden to be a reason someone can’t do well in my class, and OER makes it easier on them. Plus, environmental studies, like many fields, is a rapidly evolving and changing field. I want to be able to rely on up-to-date information!

 

Could you describe the process you went through to convert your course to OER?

When I first adopted OER at another institution, I had previously been using a textbook that I liked but didn’t feel covered all the material that I wanted it to. Once I went through and looked at the possible options, I still felt that no single text covered everything I wanted it to, but the book I use, Environmental Biology comes the closest. Over several years of trial and error, I have gotten comfortable with the text enough to try using different sections at different points in the course. This obviously required me to change lecture slides, incorporate additional readings and activities, and so on, but has allowed me more flexibility in my teaching, as well.

 

Did you encounter any challenges during the conversion process, and if so, how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge was finding a textbook that I felt really addressed the interdisciplinary components of the field and the course. At the end of the day, I have used a number of different materials, in addition to the OER textbook (such as podcasts, YouTube clips, and pop-sci readings) to make sure I get complete coverage. Sometimes it’s about looking in different places!

 

Have you received any feedback from students about using OER in your course? If so, what has been their response?

My students have mentioned that they appreciate the lower cost of taking this course. Environmental studies textbooks can run around $100-150, and it’s nice that they don’t have to decide between that book and another. Especially since many students take this as an LAC, I believe they appreciate the low cost!

 

Can you share any advice or tips for other faculty members who are considering converting their courses to OER?

Check as many OER sites as you can. Even if you can’t convert your entire course to OER, you might find some really neat activities, or even complete syllabi that help you rethink your courses. I now check the OER sites first to get inspiration to develop new courses!

Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Geography, GIS, and Sustainability, Open Initiatives & Resources, Open & Affordable Educational Materials
From Student Activist to OER Advocate: The Journey of a Textbook Affordability Librarian by Nancy Henke, UNC Assistant Professor
10/19/2023
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As an undergraduate, long before I knew about affordable and open educational resources (AOER), I gave a speech at a well-attended university event where I decried the high cost of textbooks. After my speech, a fellow student asked me, shocked, “Are you allowed to talk about that?”

Spoiler: I’m still talking about it.

I didn’t know then that my career path would lead me into the higher education classroom as an instructor of Composition and Literature, through my degree in Library and Information Science, and right back around to issues of educational access and knowledge equity.

As UNC’s Textbook Affordability Librarian, I develop, sustain, and advocate for initiatives that promote free-to-student educational resources. This may mean working with faculty to adopt, adapt, or create OER for their courses, or exploring options for integrating library-licensed materials into a course, such as e-books available through library subscription databases.

My 13 years teaching at another university prior to my role at UNC has certainly influenced my views on AOER. On the one hand, I have extensive experience developing courses – from choosing textbooks to developing lessons and assessments to crafting quizzes and building Canvas courses – and I recognize the immense workload that comes with that endeavor. Converting a course from using a traditional, all-rights-reserved textbook to affordable and open resources is no mean feat; I deeply sympathize with faculty members’ legitimate concerns about the labor involved in doing so. I similarly respect the principles of academic freedom and the right of faculty to choose learning resources they deem best for their students and courses.

On the other hand, though, from the vantage point of a classroom-instructor-turned-AOER-advocate, I now see aspects of my previous relationship with the textbook industry very differently than I did while I was teaching. Especially in light of my impassioned speech about textbook costs as an undergraduate, I’ll admit that the cost of my students’ course materials wasn’t top of mind when I was an instructor.

Consider the opacity of textbook costs for faculty. It is possible for a faculty member to choose a textbook for a course and not even know exactly what students will pay for it. Some publishers make a faculty member “dig” to determine how much students will pay for the title, and in retrospect I’m ashamed to think that I often required a textbook without knowing the out-of-pocket cost for my students. After all, as an instructor I received a free copy of any textbook I was considering adopting for my courses, since publishers want to make it easy for faculty to review (and ideally, adopt) a textbook they sell. Of course, I knew it wouldn’t be free for my students, but the fact that my copy of the book simply materialized when I requested it from a publisher led to me focus only on the content of the book, not its cost.

Case in point: I taught early American literature for many years, and each semester I assigned a high-quality yet high-cost anthology from a major publisher. Even though I purposefully chose an older edition of the book to cut student costs, I now know that students easily paid over $70 for a new copy of the previous edition and over $50 for a used copy. And, to make it even worse, this is for literature that is so old that it’s in the public domain, meaning it’s no longer protected by copyright. At least 90% of the works I taught in that course are available for free anywhere on the web simply because of their age. Yes, there was plenty of “value-added” in this text: essential historical context, helpful timelines, thoughtful introductions written by experts in the field, etc. Yet that kind of content is also available in OER texts for free.

In the end, I’m a realist and recognize that not every learning resource in every class in every discipline will ever be completely open, and that’s fine. Yet as former teaching faculty now immersed in the world of open education, I hope to reach those instructors who, like me in my previous career, aren’t aware of OER or have misconceptions about them. We all know that the costs of higher education have soared, but what students pay for tuition and fees is simply outside the control of faculty. The cost of course materials, however, is within their control, and when a student doesn’t pay $70 for their American literature anthology, they have $70 for groceries, or gas, or a new pair of winter boots, or a thousand other things they need for themselves and their family.

There’s nothing I can do now about my having required expensive textbooks in the past other than fail forward. My position at UNC Libraries gives me the opportunity to make amends by advancing programs that help current and future UNC students save on textbooks. My undergraduate self who gave that speech way back when might have been disappointed that Instructor Nancy didn’t do more to control textbook costs for her students, but she’d certainly be on board with Librarian Nancy who works on behalf of AOER.  

Educational Technology, Higher Education, Library & Information Science, Open Initiatives & Resources, Open & Affordable Educational Materials