News

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Chaya Gopalan, PhD, professor in the Departments of Applied Heath, Nurse Anesthesiology, and Mark Poepsel, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Mass Communications, have both received the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLi) Support for Creation of Open Educational Resources (SCOERs) grant. The grant is awarded to develop, improve and expand open educational resources by focusing on “The Human Condition: Care, Development, and Lifespan”.

The $65,457 award for Gopalan is to develop a physiology textbook for students in the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesia (CRNA) and ancillaries. Poepsel received $62,790 for his textbook that will focus on media writing.

“This funding helps develop open educational resources (OER) such as a physiology textbook and ancillaries for students in the CRNA program,” said Gopalan. “It marks the beginning of a new chapter, brimming with possibilities and the promise of making a meaningful impact on students and education I have been most passionate about.”

“The university is getting money to act as a small publishing company for a couple of years to develop globally viable texts, supplemental materials, and to promote the texts far and wide,” Poepsel explained. “The media writing text I am developing could be used for free in any English-speaking country. It should be a big help for textbook affordability in the mass communication field and will have gone through copy editing, copyright checks, the addition of images and other professional publishing rigors, including peer review, which will be facilitated by a colleague in mass communication. This will be a free, global resource at a time when what's up-to-date in media writing changes every few months.

Along with the funding for OER, Gopalan and Poepsel each received a 3-D printer and a year’s worth of 3-D printing filament to utilize in their teaching and coursework, enhancing their students’ learning experiences.

“I plan to use the 3D printer for multiple advertising, marketing and creative design assignments in my Media Writing course, and it'll also be useful in our design courses,” said Poepsel. “I want students to get into both searching for existing 3D designs and into creating their own, where applicable. If my media management and entrepreneurial media students come up with something that they design and they want to print 50 of them, we could actually do that now.”

“Integrating 3D printing technology can significantly enhance the learning experience in a physiology course, providing students with an authentic and immersive understanding of the human body,” Gopalan added. “This hands-on approach enhances spatial understanding and facilitates the identification of structures. 3D printing enables the creation of personalized anatomical models resulting in a deeper understanding of the diversity and complexity of the human body.”

For more information about the CARLi SCOERs grant, visit carli.illinois.edu/products-services/collections-management/illinoisscoers.

Photo: (L-R) Musonda Kapatamoyo, PhD, professor and chair in the Department of Mass Communications, Michele Leigh, CARLi open Illinois project director, Jacob Del Rio, electronic resources librarian and assistant director, Chaya Gopalan, PhD, professor in the Departments of Applied Heath, Nurse Anesthesiology, Nicole Klein, PhD, professor in the Department of Applied Health, Mark Poepsel, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Mass Communications, Elza Ibroscheva, PhD, associate provost and professor, Shelly McDavid, STEM librarian and assistant professor and Juliet Gray, associate dean for research, teaching and engagement.