Esmailbeigi receives award for open resources in classes
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The high cost of textbooks and other educational materials is a significant barrier to students earning their degrees.
A Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) survey in 2019 noted that about two-thirds of all college students (66%) skipped buying the assigned course materials, including textbooks and access codes, because they were too expensive.
The UIC Student Government Faculty Open Educational Resources Leadership Award Program is a student-nominated award. It recognizes faculty who demonstrate exemplary use of open resources in their classrooms and leadership in using and advocating for open course materials. One of the award winners is Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering Clinical Associate Professor Hananeh Esmailbeigi.
Esmailbeigi teaches classes on all levels, including Wearables and Nearables Technology Laboratory, Professional Development for Biomedical Engineers, Neural Engineering II, and Sensory Prostheses Engineering. She said all her courses have open-source content, from videos she develops and open-source resources she uses to brain sensors to other hardware.
“In engineering, especially biomedical engineering, content needs to be updated frequently due to the constantly evolving field,” Esmailbeigi said. “In each of my classes, my students can express their creativity, making every semester so different.”
She noted that she was surprised to receive the award and excited to receive letters of congratulations from both Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda.
She received her award during an end-of-year cruise hosted by the UIC Student Government.
The Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the University Library have awarded faculty members through the Open Textbook Faculty Incentive Program to support the creation of open educational resources since 2017.
“Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that are freely available online for everyone to use, whether you are an instructor, student, or self-learner,” according to the OER Commons.
An Undergraduate Student Government resolution was created to endorse the use of open education materials when possible after UIC students asked the Faculty Senate to encourage faculty to find alternative options for course materials.