Bio 104 - Environmental Lab Biology

Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This OER is being utilized in a biology course for undergraduate non-major students by Crystal Peirce at Harper College. The OER is a compilation of both OER textbooks in environmental science and accompanying activities that further student understanding of the content. The main motivation to adopt OER was to create content that is tailored to this specific course and to save students money. Students access the open textbook through a customized table of contents in Blackboard that contains links for each chapter.

Environmental Lab Biology OER: OER Reading List 104 Fall 2020.docx

Description: This resources is a combination of environmental OER texts from OpenStax, GALILEO, cK-12 Flexbooks, and Annenberg Learner. Additionally, student activities are provided by HHMI BioInteractive and Annenberg Learner.

Authors: Kamala Dorsner, Matthew Fisher, Tom Theis, Jonathan Tomkin, Carolyn Zehnder

Formats: Chapters are available by web, EPub, Pdf, and OpenDoc. 

Supplemental resources: Student activities are available by web link.

Cost savings: The traditional textbook for this course cost students $140.  All chapters in this OER are free and will save students significantly over traditional texts.

Accessibility and diversity statement: Specify any accessibility information known about the different formats of the textbook. Link to publisher accessibility statement and/or MERLOT accessibility information if available.

License: For cK-12 materials: Creative Commons Attribution - Non-Commercial License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

For GALILEO: Creative Commons Attribution - Non-Commercial-Share Alike License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

For OpenStax: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

For Annenberg Learner: Any educational, non-commercial organization is welcome to link to resources on Learner.org from its website. We do not allow our pages to be contained within a frame implying that Learner.org resources are part of another website. Users also may not download pages from Learner.org to post on other websites. 

Bio 104 - Environmental Lab Biology  

Description:  Investigates the interrelationship between humans and the environment through scientific inquiry. Lecture and laboratory topics include the scientific method, ecosystems, biodiversity, energy sources, natural resources, conservation, pollution, and population dynamics.

GE credit: 4 credit hours

Syllabus available here: [link to online syllabus]

Learning outcomes:  1. Communicate environmental concepts with others in oral and written formats.

2. Analyze scientific problems using quantitative reasoning.

 3. Apply the scientific method in problem solving environmental issues.

4. Describe key environmental problems facing all humans, including their social, ethical, and cultural implications.

5. Practice the necessary skills for life-long learning and critical thinking on environmental issues as they relate to everyday life.

Curricular changes: There were no curricular changes needed to transition the course from a traditional text to OER.

Teaching and learning impacts:

Use wider range of teaching materials: Yes
Student learning improved: TBD  

Student retention improved : TBD
Any unexpected results: TBD

OER Adoption Process

The OER Transformation grant allowed me to re-examine my textbook options and decide if the cost of a traditional text was a worthwhile expense for my students.  I was not using any of the publisher provided instructor content and the online homework system was not something I needed.  In addition, the textbook was not meeting the needs of my non-majors students as the book was text heavy and did not provide many ways for the students to interact with content.  Instead of choosing another traditional textbook, I decided to investigate OER sources for my course and was surprised at how much material I was able to find to meet the needs of my course.

Student access: A document with links to each individual OER text is available on the course Blackboard site.

Student feedback or participation: Coming soon

Crystal Peirce

I am a full-time biology instructor at Harper College.  I teach introductory level biology courses for non-major students including Bio 103, Bio 104, Bio 105, and Bio 110.