Foraging...I have to start somewhere.

Going textbook-free is both exciting and scary.  Every semester I hear the frustrated comments regarding the price of textbooks from the students, which makes me reflect back to my own experiences.  I vividly remember paying $1200 one semester for textbooks, which greatly impacted what little budget I had for the entire semester for things like gas, food and necessities.  So needless to say, when I started hearing discussions from other faculty about embracing the open resources available on the internet, I was excited.  This blog will not only follow my journey into the open resource world, but it will also mark my successes and, well, failures.  So let's get started.

Goals:

• Shed the textbook - adopt an online/free textbook that is of good quality that hits upon all the areas that I go over in my classes.  
• Create a more student-centered learning environment.  The days of constant lecture and note-taking are coming to an end, and I need to more fully embrace the idea of a flipped classroom approach.
• Ensure that all of my sources/documents are ADA compliant.
• Embrace this new approach yet still put MY fingerprint on it.  I don't like cookie cutter approaches.  Even when I first started teaching, I never relied on the material that was given to me, by the publishers, to present to students.  To me, it's boring, lacks warmth and doesn't have that "connection".  So I want to ensure that the material I present represents my unique teaching style.  

Challenges:

• With online classes, one has to have constant access to the internet.  Without a constant, reliable source, it makes completing such a course nearly impossible.  But with my adoption of an open-source textbook in my traditional classes, I have to assume everyone has the same reliable, constant access to the internet.  Which I have learned is not always the case.  Keep in mind that our district is very large, so driving to campus is not always an easy option.  This makes doing the background work, which includes using the textbook to prepare for class, more challenging. 
• "But I love the feel of that textbook in my hands" mentality.  Look, I'm a bibliophile myself...I understand the passion of holding a physical textbook in your hands.  But at the same time, why pay a colossal amount of money to physically hold a textbook that you can obtain for free online.  
• Time.  I have three kids aged six and under.  My husband works odd hours which results in my being home alone to chase after them, and little time to myself.  So time is something that I don't have a lot of.  
• Sanity.  Change is never easy.  At least BIG change is never easy.  But for me, having a good product for the students is worth the challenge.  

This first post is really just me putting my thoughts down on paper.  I have already reviewed a textbook and plan to adopt it in the spring of 2015 semester for my Introduction to Sociology classes.  Interested in the link?
Here it is: https://openstaxcollege.org/files/textbook_version/low_res_pdf/10/col11407-lr.pdf

In my next post - I hope to outline my approach to teaching, as well as how I plan to use my newly adopted *free* online textbook in class.  -H