Grants Collection

Georgia Gwinnett College

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
OF GEORGIA

David Dorrell, Todd Lindley, Georgeta Connor,

Joseph Henderson, and James Lowry

Introduction to
Human
Geography
 Grants Collection
Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide
faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same
materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the
aims and lessons learned from project teams during the
implementation process.

Each collection contains the following materials:

 Linked Syllabus
o The syllabus should provide the framework for both
direct implementation of the grant team’s selected and
created materials and the adaptation/transformation of
these materials.
 Initial Proposal
o The initial proposal describes the grant project’s aims in detail.
 Final Report
o The final report describes the outcomes of the project and
any lessons learned.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Grants Collection materials are

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License.
Initial Proposal
 Affordable Learning Georgia Textbook Transformation Grants
Rounds Six, Seven, and Eight
For Implementations beginning Fall Semester 2016
Running Through Fall Semester 2017

Proposal Form and Narrative

Submitter Name Cathy Hakes

Submitter Title Director, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
Submitter Email [email protected]
Submitter Phone Number 678-407-5875
Submitter Campus Role Sponsored Programs Office; Grants Office

Applicant Name David Dorrell

Applicant Email [email protected]
Applicant Phone Number 678-471-2582

Primary Appointment Assistant Professor of Geography

Title
Institution Name(s) Georgia Gwinnet College
Team Members David Dorrell, Assistant Professor of Geography, School of Liberal
Arts, [email protected]

Todd Lindley, Assistant Professor of Geography, School of Liberal

Arts, [email protected]

Georgeta Connor, Assistant Professor of Geography, School of

Liberal Arts, [email protected]

Joseph Henderson, Associate Professor of Geography, School of

Liberal Arts, [email protected]

James Lowry, Associate Professor of Geography, School of Liberal

Arts, [email protected]
Sponsor, Title, Adolfo Santos, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, Georgia
Department, Institution Gwinnett College

Proposal Title Opening Intro to Human Geography

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Course Names, Course Introduction to Human Geography, GEOG 1101
Numbers and Semesters All semesters
Offered
Final Semester of Summer 2017, Fall 2017
Instruction

Average Number of 28 Number of 35 Total Number of 980

Students Per Course Course Sections Students
Section Affected by Affected by
Implementation Implementation
in Academic in Academic
Year Year
Award Category ☒ No-or-Low-Cost-to-Students Learning Materials
(pick one) ☐ OpenStax Textbooks
☐ Interactive Course-Authoring Tools and Software
☐ Specific Top 100 Undergraduate Courses

List the original course Pearson Contemporary Human Geography by James Rubenstein,
materials for students 3rd Edition, required, $136.60
(including title, whether
optional or required, &
cost for each item)

Requested Amount of $25, 800

Funding

Original Per Student Cost $136.60

Post-Proposal Projected $0
Per Student Cost

Projected Per Student $136.60

Savings

Projected Total Annual $133,868

Student Savings

Creation and Hosting Content will be hosted on Brightspace (D2L), GGC Library
Platforms Used webpage and on MERLOT

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1.1 Project Goals
The goals of this project are to:
1. Improve retention in GEOG 1101, progression and eventual graduation.
2. Reduce the cost of education by providing no-cost-to-students learning materials.
3. Create materials that students like to use by asking students what works for them and
what does not.

Saving students' money is part of the process of improving retention, progression, and graduation
rates among GGC students. In particular, incoming students who enroll in Introduction to Human
Geography often are surprised by the expense of textbooks. Since the cost of books may not
have been budgeted, students unable to buy the books are placed at an immediate disadvantage in
the course. This disadvantage tends to worsen over time. The goal of this project is to shrink
that gap as much as possible.

1.2 Statement of

Transformation Transformation

description.
In a recent online article from Akademos website, Jonathan Shar discussed findings from the
2015 College CFO Survey on Textbook Affordability and Bookstore Services. In this article, he
stated that “96% of respondents indicated that the high cost of textbooks and course materials
had an impact on student retention and persistence. This is up 8% from the study published in
2013, with respondents stating “Very Much” increasing by 13% in just two years.” He went on
to say, “The study suggests that reducing textbook costs can have a positive impact on student
satisfaction, but may have a significant financial impact for colleges and universities by helping
improve student completion and retaining more tuition revenue. This was a big factor…in terms
of convincing our faculty to abandon the traditional brick and mortar store and move to a virtual
(student savings) format." (Shar, 2015)

The transformation of proprietary hard copy textbooks to an open online format will alleviate the
problem of students who cannot or will not purchase textbooks for a course. Considering the
size of this problem in an access institution, this should increase course completion dramatically,
reducing the demoralizing DFW rate for courses. As an example, the GEOG 1101 faculty
involved in this project have observed that fewer than 5% of their students come to class with a
textbook. This is a completely reasonable reaction to a situation in which the book is likely very
expensive and the book may be unnecessary for passing the course. This lack of textbooks is
particularly problematic for GEOG 1101 classes because of the tight relationship between the
reading material and class exercises and quizzes. The books truly are required and anything that
delays engaging the material will result in a lower grade.
There are any number of proprietary textbooks for Introduction to Human Geography. Many if
not all of them have an online e-text version for a lower price, but these slightly cheaper
versions have had limited adoption by students in GEOG 1101. This mirrors experiences at other
institutions.(Grasgreen, 2014)

This transformation will completely substitute online resources for the currently adopted course
text, Rubenstein’s Contemporary Human Geography, third edition. There will be no cost to
access these materials. When students start the GEOG 1101 course, they will have all the
links
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to all the materials arranged in D2L in a chapter format. The material will be arranged in a
similar order to the previously used book (Chapter 2-Population, Chapter 3-Migration, etc.) in
order to make the transition easier for the course instructors, as well as make any resources
developed here at GGC be easily transferred to other institutions.

Introduction to Human Geography is one of the courses satisfying Part 2 of Area C for General
Education at Georgia Gwinnett College. It not only has a large number of sections; it is one of
the first college courses for many students at GGC. Improving outcomes in a course that may
set the tone for a college career is important.(Cantarella, 2011)

Stakeholders affected by the transformation.

There are many stakeholders in a project such as this. The students are the most important
stakeholders in this project. The College Board in 2016 found that students at public 4-year
institutions spend on average $1250 per year on textbooks alone. (College Board, 2016)
Students who are on financial assistance, such as GGC students, are likely the most affected by
the escalating prices of textbooks since their budgets are often insufficient to purchase their
books in a timely manner. With no books as study guides, they are less prepared for class, more
likely to suffer with low or failing grades, and ultimately put a stress on the entire educational
system.

The families of students are also stakeholders since they are usually the financial resource that
covers gaps that students may have in their own budgets. A no-cost-to-student textbook will
reduce the financial burden to both the students and their families, while improving the students’
class performance. Aside from the students and their families, faculty members will also benefit
greatly from the project. David Wiley, co-founder of Lumen Learning, stated, “The degree of
unaffordability is getting to the point that it’s hurting learning.”(Grinberg, 2014) Faculty
members understand the gravity of this statement. It is demoralizing and stressful to watch
students struggle in a course because they do not have a textbook. With free online materials,
faculty can have the flexibility to modify the textbook as they see fit or as current events change,
and to include materials that make more sense to their audiences or student population. The
geography faculty already heavily supplement the supplied textbook with their own material.
The new materials will now more closely cover the resources that they feel are most relevant.

The institution is a stakeholder. Institutions are often measured by the successes and failures of
their students, but there is more to faculty and student relationship than spreadsheets and
statistics. Institutional faculty want to help students succeed, and we have an emotional interest
in their success. Colleges, particularly access colleges, exist to prepare the next generation of
global workers, citizens, and leaders. It is a major achievement when an access institution like
GGC that enrolls students who are often under-represented in higher education is then able to
graduate more students to become competitive in this global market place because of efforts like
the ALG grant. Finally, society is a stakeholder. A great number of GGC students have had
limited exposure to the world outside the Atlanta metro region. Through this textbook
transformation project, the easily accessible online materials are expected to spark an interest in
them to be more aware of the world outside of their own. Society will then be benefited because
the study of geography would widen the students’ perspective of people, societies, cultures, and
the environment. Most importantly, it will cultivate cultural sensitivity, while training them to

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embark on careers such as a teacher, geographical information systems officer, disease modeler,
or international aid worker.

Impact of this transformation on stakeholders and on course success.

In an access institution, such as Georgia Gwinnett College, students often struggle to adjust to
the demands of college. Anything that disrupts a student’s life will have a negative impact on
his or her studies. For incoming freshmen, a common problem is the sticker shock associated
with book prices. With the increases in tuition, fees and books students often logically choose
to forego paying for the only flexible expense that they have- their books. This false economy
has terrible consequences. This, however, is not the only problem. Many students who
receive assistance, particularly those waiting for book vouchers, often must wait for several
weeks for the vouchers to post to their accounts. Irrespective of the cause, the effect is all too
familiar.
Students fall further and further behind, and become progressively more despondent and
desperate, and all-too-often drop the course or fail it.

This is a negative outcome for all parties concerned- the students, their families, the institutions,
and even society itself as something that should be a social good becomes a source of debt and
grievance.

If this barrier were to be removed, then all of the previously stated problems resolve themselves.
This is not to say that there are no other structural problems, but this one will go away.
Working at an access institution requires exactly this kind of incremental problem solving.

Project’s transformative impact.

The impact of this transformation will be heavily positive for GEOG 1101. The materials will
now be selected from a wider array of sources and they will be immediately available for
students. Barriers to access of the material will be minimized. Work in the course will begin
on the first day of class, and not at some arbitrary day when a check arrives during the semester.
A cloud of anxiety will be lifted from the classroom.

1.3 Transformation Action Plan

New course materials selection and identification.

Specifically, this will entail finding substitutes for each chapter of the current textbooks from
available open resources, as well as constructing accompanying support materials.
Currently there are two likely sources for this textual material. One is a complete textbook of
material by S. Graves available at the following URL
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/

The Graves online textbook is a good starting point as a resource. It is broken into chapters that
roughly approximate most proprietary textbooks. It is well written and interesting. It has some
notable drawbacks. First, it excludes some chapters that are always included in introductory
textbooks (migration, development, and hazards) and it adds chapters that are not usually
included in other textbooks (Gender and Crime). It is also written in a style that references
American pop culture that may not mean anything to students with different backgrounds.

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The other main resource is a website that serves as an online version of a textbook presented as a
series of web pages by A. Dastrup available at the following URL.
http://www.opengeography.org/human-geography.html

This book is much more in the style of a “normal” textbook in terms of tone and its subject
matter. Its major shortcoming is that it is very short and it, too, is missing much of the material
that is normally found in an introductory textbook. The table of contents for Dastrup’s and
Graves’ materials are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Table of Contents of Dastrup versus Graves Textbooks

Table Of Contents - Dastrup Table Of Contents- Graves
Chapter 1: Introduction To Geography Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Population and Migration Chapter 4: Health and Disease
Chapter 3: Cultural Geography Chapter 2: Culture and Cultural Practices
Chapter 6: Religion
Chapter 5: Language and Dialect
Chapter 9: Ethnicity
Chapter4: Political Geography Chapter 7: Politics and Power
Chapter5: Sustainable Development
Chapter6: Food, Water, & Agriculture Chapter 3: Agriculture and Foodways
Chapter7: Urban Geography Chapter 12: Economic Geography
Chapter 13: Transportation
Chapter 11: Urban Geography
Chapter8: Environmental Issues Chapter 14: Environment
Chapter9: Living with Disasters
Chapter 10: Gender
Chapter 8: Crime and Punishment

Neither of these resources are full replacements for the texts currently used in GEOG 1101, but
together they are a suitable starting point for this project. Ideally, the material would be a
combination of both sources, plus extra materials. Obviously, this will not be available for all
the subjects covered. In such instances, either one chapter will be used or the team will find
material for use in the course from such sources as Galileo, the USG library system, MERLOT,
or other open online resources.

It will be necessary to create support materials for these books, since they have very little support
materials available. One such material will be videos discussing some parts of the chapters in
depth. All members of this team have been making videos for their GEOG 1101 courses
already; thus, the material will be rewritten and represented to reflect the new reading resources.
Other materials will be exam and quiz banks, study guides, and further reading lists. The will be
no requirement for further institutional resources, all resources are virtual.

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Course and syllabus redesign phase.
This phase begins in January 2017. Team members will assess current open materials for
suitability. The two referenced candidates will be assessed for suitability. Each separate
chapter will be assessed for suitability. It is possible that one chapter, both or neither may be
selected for the substitution. If neither is selected, then suitable material will be found or made.

Summer semester 2017 will include feature a pilot implementation of the newly organized
material. Autumn semester 2017 will see the full implementation of the project, with subsequent
semesters being devoted to sustaining the new instructional model. This sustenance phase will
include aiding others in adopting this course materials, including new part-time faculty at
Georgia Gwinnett College and instructors at other institutions if they are interested.

Team member roles.

As the graph demonstrates, each team member is responsible for adjusting material for use in the
transformed course. The left-most section represents the table of contents of the current
textbook. The middle two sections are the comparable chapters of the two existing online
textbooks for Introduction to Human Geography. The final column shows which team member
is responsible for which chapter. The geography faculty at Georgia Gwinnett College was
selected initially hired in order to cover the major sub-disciplines in a department. Although
there are no departments at GGC and no geography major, our personnel structure allows the
team to cover topics that are most familiar to the associated faculty member.

Each team member is responsible for the material noted in the Table 2. The overall
transformation is being directed by David Dorrell, but this is a team effort.

Table 2: Chapter Assignments of All Team Members

Responsible Responsible
Chapters Team Member Chapters Team Member
Chapter 1: Thinking Chapter 8: Political
Geographically Lowry Geography Henderson
Chapter 2: Population Dorrell Chapter 9: Development Lindley
Chapter 3: Migration Lindley Chapter 10:Agriculture Connor
Chapter 4: Folk and Popular
Culture Dorrell Chapter 11:Industry Lowry
Chapter 12:Settlements
Chapter 5: Religion Lindley and Services Connor
Chapter 13:Urban
Chapter 6: Language Dorrell Patterns Connor
Chapter 14:Resource
Chapter 7: Ethnicity Lowry issues Henderson

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Plan for providing access.
Current materials are already being hosted on Brightspace (formerly D2L) on a course-by-course
basis, as demonstrated in the image below. This project will simply rework the existing
situation. Figure 1 provides an illustration of the layout of the course materials.

Figure 1. Snapshot of D2L Page for Proposed Geography Materials

In Spring 2017, the team will sort through the available materials, selecting and aligning the
appropriate resources from those available. These materials will initially be posted to a
sandboxed, internal D2L site, as the team members add, delete and modify the material for the
initial pilot project release in Summer 2017. Once the material has reached an acceptable state
of quality and stability, it will be copied as a template to all sections of GEOG 1101 at GGC for
Fall 2017.

The transformed course will be available as a complete course solution for all sections of
GEOG 1001. It is also desired that a copy of the resources be maintained by the GGC library in
order to facilitate other institutions adopting the transformed course as a model for their own
online reading offerings. It is desired to place the material on MERLOT as well. In order to
expedite this, team member David Dorrell has registered in the GRAPE Camp (Getting
Reviewers Accustomed to the Process of Evaluation), the program for training MERLOT peer
reviewers.
All permanent geography faculty are members of the textbook transformation team and when the

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project is implemented, all sections taught by full-time faculty at GGC will use the transformed
course.

1.4 Quantitative and Qualitative Measures

Table 3 provides the quantitative and qualitative measures for each of the project goals.
Examples of questions are provided in some instances.

Table 3: Quantitative and Qualitative Measures for Each of the Project Goals

Goal Quantitative Measures Qualitative Measures

Improve retention in GEOG Review DWF grades in Survey students regarding
1101 classes involved in project. barriers to completion before
Compare current rates with and after the transformation
previous year.
Reduce textbook cost to Track number of students Develop open-ended
students enrolled in each class and questions as an addendum to
current cost of GEOG 1101 the course evaluations on
books. Savings will be how no-cost materials helped
determined from that with their studies and helped
calculation. reduce educational financial
burden on them.
Improve Student Learning Administer assessment Discuss during the semester
Outcomes instrument that comprises of students’ self-assessments of
geography test questions. their mastery of the Student
Compare results before and Learning Outcomes.
after the transformation.
Sample questions to
determine student learning
outcomes:
1. Which of these places is
most likely to have a history
of mixing of diverse cultures
from different source
regions?
a) a location on a plain at 35
degrees latitude
b) a mountainous location at
35 degrees latitude
c) a location on a plain at 60
degrees latitude
d) a mountainous location at
60 degrees latitude
2. Which of these would
probably be most helpful for
explaining why a particular

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 geographical region has a
large amount of farm land?
a) its longitude
b) its dominant religion
c) its colonial history
d) its topography
3. Which of these would
probably be most useful in
helping to explain why a
particular region had a high
birth rate?
a) its endowment of natural
resources
b) its history of
industrialization
c) its altitude
d) its proximity to the ocean

Increase use of course Provide quizzes over specific Among those who have used
materials course material. the materials, ask how
materials can be made more
Note numbers of students accessible. If they did not use
who never access materials the materials, ask why they
on Brightspace. did not utilize them or what
barriers prevented them.
Conduct survey to students
between midterm and finals
to inquire how frequently
they accessed the online
materials and when they
accessed materials.

1.5 Timeline
January 9, 2017: Notification
January 30, 2017: Kickoff Meeting
February 2017-April 2017: Prepare material for course implementation.
Summer 2017: Begin Implementation. Use newly organized resources to pilot the new program
over Summer sessions.
Fall 2017: Full Implementation. Use data derived from the pilot implementation for full rollout
across all relevant sections. Submit final report to ALG.
Future Plans: Maintain product for internal and external use.

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1.6 Budget
Type of Grant:  Standard-Scale Transformation Large-Scale Transformation
Funds are requested for:

A. Personnel
Justification: This process will be time consuming. In order to make it possible to expend the
time necessary to do this properly and completely, we are requesting summer compensation for
the team members. The Library staff who will be assisting the project team will provide their
services without any charge to the grant.

Summer
Personnel Role of team member Reason
Compensation
Responsible for overall
management of project. Find, Summer
$5,000 David Dorrell
assess and implement open Compensation
content for Chapters 2,4 and 6
Find, assess and implement open Summer
$5,000 James Lowry
content for Chapters 1,7, and 11 Compensation
Joseph Find, assess and implement open Summer
$5,000
Henderson content for Chapters 8 and 14 Compensation
Georgeta Find, assess and implement open Summer
$5,000
Connor content for Chapters 10, 12, 13 Compensation
Find, assess and implement open Summer
$5,000 Todd Lindley
content for Chapters 3 and 9 Compensation
Total
$25,000
Compensation

B. Travel
Justification: Funds are requested to travel to Macon for the kick-off meeting. We are requesting
funds for lodging, mileage, and per diem for the two members who will attend.

Amount Personnel Role of team member

$400 David Dorrell Mandatory training sessions and presentations
$400 Todd Lindley Mandatory training sessions and presentations
$800 Total Travel

Total Request: $25,800

1.7 Sustainability Plan

The time after the year of transformation will one of continuous adjustment. The developed
online materials will become the only resources that will be used for GEOG 1101 at Georgia
Gwinnett College. Continuing to use the materials will require constant updating. The goal is
to provide a first-rate online GEOG 1101 textbook that is free and easily accessible online.

Every successive summer, the geography faculty will meet to decide which materials are still
meeting the needs of students and which may have become out of date or otherwise inadequate.

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At this time, the project team will reassess, revise, update, and upload new resources.
Moreover, it will be necessary to monitor the availability of new sources of material for this
course as it is expected that other open geography textbooks will become available. Any new
open texts will be considered as additions or replacements for the materials included in the initial
transformation.

The geography faculty of GGC will also begin to promote these collected resources to other
geography programs. For the first two-year phase, our attention will be on promoting the
transformed materials to other USG institutions to adopt or adapt. The ALG and its repository
will be a critical partner to this promotional effort. The geography faculty will begin promoting
this transformation also by using venues such as conferences by speaking on the efficacy and
practicality of using online materials in our discipline. The goal is to encourage departments
further afield to use our transformed materials or to begin to consider online resources as
textbook.

All materials are open, and there are no recurring expenses. There are no additional costs that
will need to be paid in the future. The transformation will be sustained solely by updating the
materials.

1.8 References

Cantarella, M. (2011). Freshman May Be the Hardest Year of All | HowToLearn.com. Retrieved
November 28, 2016, from http://www.howtolearn.com/2011/07/freshman-may-be-the-
hardest-year-of-all/

College Board. (2016). Average Estimated Undergraduate Budgets, 2016-17 - Trends in Higher
Education - The College Board. Retrieved November 27, 2016, from
https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-estimated-
undergraduate-budgets-2016-17

Grasgreen, A. (2014). Textbook prices still crippling students, report says. Retrieved November
27, 2016, from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/28/textbook-prices-still-
crippling-students-report-says

Grinberg, E. (2014, April 21). Free open textbooks gain footing at some colleges - CNN.com.
Retrieved November 28, 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/18/living/open-
textbooks-online-education-resources/index.html

Shar, J. (2015, May 13). The Impact of Textbook Costs on Student Retention and Persistence.
Retrieved November 27, 2016, from http://blog.akademos.com/the-impact-of-textbook-
costs-on-student-retention-and-persistence

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Syllabus
Reading Materials for Introduction to Human Geography

Sections Primary Reading Secondary Reading

Module 1: Introduction https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/introduction http://www.opengeography.org/ch-1-intro-to-geographic-science.html

Module 2: Population https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/health

Module 3: Migration http://www.opengeography.org/ch-2-population--migration.html

Module 4: Culture https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/culture http://www.opengeography.org/ch-3-cultural-geography.html

Module 5: Language https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/language

Module 6: Religion https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/religion

Module 7: Ethnicity https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/ethnicity

Module 8: Politics https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/political http://www.opengeography.org/ch-4-political-geography.html

Module 9: Development http://www.opengeography.org/ch-5-social--economic-development.html

Module 10: Agriculture https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/agriculture http://www.opengeography.org/ch-6-food-water-and-agriculture.html

Module 11: Economics https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/economics

Module 12: Transportation https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/transportation

Module 11: Urban https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/urban http://www.opengeography.org/ch-7-urban-geography.html

Module 14: Environment https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/environment http://www.opengeography.org/ch-8-environmental-issues.html

Extras for consideration

https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/gender

https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/crime

http://www.opengeography.org/ch-9-living-with-disasters.html
Introduction to Human Geography Schedule with
ORDER TOPICS
Module 1 Thinking Geographically
Module 2 Population
Module 3 Migration
Module 4 Folk vs. Pop Culture
Module 5 Language
Module 6 Religion
Module 7 Ethnicity
Module 8 Political Geography
Module 9 Development
Module 10 Food and Agriculture
Module 11 Industry
Module 12 Urban Patterns
Module 13 Resource Issues
Module 14 Geospatial Technology
Links
READINGS 1 Adam Dastrup at Opengeography.org
http://www.opengeography.org/ch-1-intro-to-geographic-science.html
http://www.opengeography.org/ch-2-population--migration.html
http://www.opengeography.org/ch-3-cultural-geography.html

http://www.opengeography.org/ch-4-political-geography.html
http://www.opengeography.org/ch-5-social--economic-development.html
http://www.opengeography.org/ch-6-food-water-and-agriculture.html
http://www.opengeography.org/ch-9-living-with-disasters.html

http://www.opengeography.org/ch-7-urban-geography.html
http://www.opengeography.org/ch-8-environmental-issues.html
Readings2 Steven Graves at gravesgeography
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/introduction
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/health
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/culture
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/religion
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/language
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/ethnicity
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/political

https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/agriculture
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/economics
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/transportation
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/urban
https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/environment
ASSIGNMENTS Quizzes Due Date
Syllabus assignment/ Thinking Geographically 23-Aug-17
Mental Map – in class Population 30-Aug-17
Field Mapping – in class Migration 6-Sep-17
Music Assignment- in class Folk vs. Pop Culture 13-Sep-17
Language Mapping Assignment Language 20-Sep-17
Festival Mapping Assignment Religion 27-Sep-17
News Assignment Ethnicity 4-Oct-17
Political Assignment –in class Political Geography 11-Oct-17
Economics Assignment Development 18-Oct-17
Food Assignment Food and Agriculture 30-Oct-17
Industry Mapping assignment Industry 1-Nov-17
Urban Patterns 8-Nov-17
Resource Issues 15-Nov-17
Final Report
 Affordable Learning Georgia Textbook Transformation Grants
Final Report
Date: December 20, 2017
Grant Number: 279
Institution Name(s): Georgia Gwinnett College
Team Members:
David Dorrell, Assistant Professor of Geography, School of Liberal Arts, [email protected]
Todd Lindley, Assistant Professor of Geography, School of Liberal Arts, [email protected]
Georgeta Connor, Assistant Professor of Geography, School of Liberal Arts, [email protected]
Joseph Henderson, Associate Professor of Geography, School of Liberal Arts,
[email protected]
James Lowry, Associate Professor of Geography, School of Liberal Arts, [email protected]
Project Lead: David Dorrell
Course Name(s) and Course Numbers: Introduction to Human Geography, GEOG 1101
Semester Project Began: Spring 2017
Semester(s) of Implementation: Fall 2017
Average Number of Students Per Course Section: 28
Number of Course Sections Affected by Implementation: 22
Total Number of Students Affected by Implementation: 616
1. Narrative
The stated goals of this project were to:
1. Improve retention in GEOG 1101, progression and eventual graduation.
2. Reduce the cost of education by providing no-cost-to-students learning materials.
3. Create material that students like to use by asking students what works for them and what
does not.
It is unclear at this stage if retention has been improved, but no one failed these classes as a
function of not having the textbook. More longitudinal data would be needed to determine
this. This is a good first step toward that goal, however.
Without question the cost burden of attending Introduction to Human Geography at Georgia
Gwinnett college has been reduced. This goal was perhaps the easiest to meet in that it did not
require that the material be of similar quality as the material that was replaced. Fortunately, as
other parts of this document will show, the quality of the new material was sufficient for this
course.
Regarding item three above, the students were asked to provide feedback regarding which
chapters from the two online options that they preferred, but the answer was almost always
the shortest chapter. The reality is that much of what is assigned to students is, irrespective of
its source, simply not read. If that is going to be the case, at least they shouldn’t be
impoverished in the process. Perhaps the diffusion of open textbooks will be a force for
promoting reading on campus. At the very least it removes one of the barriers. In terms of
materials that students could enjoy using, the only real resistance to using the online materials
came from students who were generally opposed to any type of online textbooks, free or
otherwise.
Although there were many positive experiences with this project, there were some difficulties
as well. The transformation was conducted with the expectation that the great range of
materials would make this a relatively easy process. It turned out that the process of scouring
the internet for material was in itself fairly grueling. The act of reviewing materials and
attempting to assemble them into a cohesive whole was very beneficial to the people teaching
this course. Seeing the range of materials and interacting with so much content was a learning
experience for the faculty. The greatest problem with internet resources is that many of them
are projects that have been abandoned. Another problem is just the passage of time. Many of
the things we found online were dated in some way, or otherwise just not up to the standard of
a college course. One of the members of the geography faculty is a Merlot reviewer and is very
familiar with the unevenness of online materials.
Initially the idea was that there would be two initial online textbooks, supplemented with other
textual materials. Eventually, it was decided that just standardizing on the two online
textbooks was best, and that professors would have the liberty to add what they desired as
additional materials.
The two textbooks, https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/ and
http://www.opengeography.org/human-geography.html were adequate books, but they were
strikingly different in tone and content. It was necessary to map the chapters to one another,
which meant that for one module students may read chapter 4 of one book and chapter 9 of
another. This wasn’t a problem, save for the fact that the students rapidly discovered which
book had shorter chapters and would sometimes ignore the more detailed chapter. The graves
book was far more complete in terms of content material, but it was also much more dense
reading. It is written for programs that are teaching geography majors.
There was a minimal amount of disagreement about the materials chosen, but a note is
necessary at this point. Through Fall 2017 some professors remained with the commercial
textbook to serve as a control group. Those professors will be using the new materials in Spring
2018.
The greatest challenge occurred when the second of the textbooks (Opengeography) went
briefly offline due to the operator forgetting to renew the domain. This happened roughly one
week before the Fall semester was to begin. A workaround was to use the internet archive and
save the individual chapters as pdf files and link to them through D2L. It was not an ideal
situation, but it resolved itself when the book returned online the day that classes began. In
the case of the other book, the author decided to update some chapters, and took down the
old ones. He remembered to put the chapters up later, but one was unavailable to be read
when it was needed. We learned an important lesson: if you do not control the material, it will
control you.
The difficulty with the books triggered the idea that in the future it would be better to have our
own materials, written by the geography faculty at GGC. The reasons for this are simple-one of
the books seemed incomplete and the other book was not particularly engaging. We have
begun the process of writing our own textbook. It is well under way.

2. Quotes

 “The quality of the courses texts was very good (was online) …They are very convenient,
accessible and inexpensive.”
 “Online, I didn’t have to worry about taking a book with me.”
 “I liked using the online texts from this course because it was simple and easy to use and
access.”
3. Quantitative and Qualitative Measures
3a. Overall Measurements
Student Opinion of Materials
Was the overall student opinion about the materials used in the course positive,
neutral, or negative?
Total number of students affected in this project: 616 (Fall 2017)_

 Positive: 18 % of 147 number of respondents

 Neutral: 78 % of 147 number of respondents
 Negative: 4 % of 147 number of respondents
The student responses were heavily positive or neutral. The goal of the transformation was
to minimize disruption of the learning process. The transition went smoothly. While
administering the survey of students’ evaluations it was distressing the number of students
who were in classes with free online content who answered that they were too poor to
afford the free textbooks for the transformed course. It was also concerning the number
who wrote that they never read a textbook. Perhaps a discourse in the role of textbooks in
general is in order.
Irrespective of the general conversation around open textbooks, in this case it was an
unqualified success. Students liked the materials, and there were other, less obvious
advantages of the open textbooks. It was possible to embed the material within the
context of the D2L page, creating a sense of flow that otherwise would not have been
available. Students were able to carry less on their persons, and they even saved time from
not having to order their books online or wait in line to purchase them at the campus
bookstore.

Student Learning Outcomes and Grades

Was the overall comparative impact on student performance in terms of learning
outcomes and grades in the semester(s) of implementation over previous
semesters positive, neutral, or negative?
Choose One:
 Positive: Higher performance outcomes measured over previous semester(s)
 _x Neutral: Same performance outcomes over previous semester(s)
Negative: Lower performance outcomes over previous semester(s)

Student Drop/Fail/Withdraw (DFW) Rates
 Was the overall comparative impact on Drop/Fail/Withdraw (DFW) rates in the
semester(s) of implementation over previous semesters positive, neutral, or
negative?

Drop/Fail/Withdraw Rate:
79 % of students, out of a total 406 students affected,
dropped/failed/withdrew from the course in the final semester of implementation.
Choose One:

 _x
Positive: This is a lower percentage of students with D/F/W than previous
semester(s)
 Neutral: This is the same percentage of students with D/F/W than previous
semester(s)
 Negative: This is a higher percentage of students with D/F/W than previous
semester(s)

3b. Narrative
In terms of Student Learning Outcomes, the assessment instrument that was presented
with the initial proposal was used. It contained 12 questions. Comparing the transformed
sections with the untransformed sections produced a 6-question tie. This indicates that in
terms of content outcomes, there was no discernible difference between courses. The
different rates of correct answers were very similar across all questions. There was no
question that had markedly different correct or incorrect responses by transformation
status. The tabulated results of the assessment are found in the Outcomes Testing Final
spreadsheet.
In terms of DFW, there was a very small positive association with the transformation of the
course, but it was small enough to be due to the natural variation seen in any sampled
population. In fact, the goal of a drop-in replacement for the old materials seems to have
been met. There was no cataclysmic decline in pass rates, but there was a modest increase.
This is available in the document Final Report Stats.
Qualitatively, the students have reacted with pure joy when they discover that they are in a
transformed section. Any negativity was associated with the online format of the reading.
In the future, perhaps the geography faculty will produce a text that the students who
deeply dislike online texts can print at low cost. This would also be useful for the students
who may have unreliable internet service. Another qualitative measure of the impact of the
open textbooks is the sense that students can follow the discussions in class. Before the
 transformation, there was often a sense that students simply had not read the material. By
embedding the reading material right next to the quiz and assignment material, it seemed
to improve their ability to stay on task. It was convenient having every resource for the class
available on a single D2L page.

4. Sustainability Plan
Open material will become the only material used for GEOG 1101 at Georgia Gwinnett College.
Continuing to use the material will require constant updating. Each year the material will be
reassessed. Anything found to be wanting will be replaced. At some point, it will likely be
necessary to move away from those two particular online textbooks. We are preparing our
own. The entire D2L content package has been prepared for exported and has already been
imported into all of the GGC geography course shells for Spring 2019. It would be useful to be
able to provide course shells to other institutions, but the technical feasibility of this is
unknown at this time.
The maintenance costs of the transition are minimal, with the only concern being the continued
availability of the open texts. Since they are open, the group has kept copies in case they need
to be served locally, but once the new text has been finished, all courses will transition to that.

5. Future Plans
This project is viewed by the faculty as an unqualified success. It has helped the students
financially. It has helped the faculty stay current in their fields. It forced us to consider
whether or not we were creating classes centered on the needs of students and faculty, or just
a publisher’s path of least resistance. This project inspired the GGC geography faculty to
attempt to produce our own textbook. During the course of the transformation, faculty felt
restricted to the materials that we had, and knew that it would be better to have materials that
wouldn’t suddenly disappear.
The sense of ownership of the material is notable. The fear that a publisher is going to slightly
modify a book and change editions is gone. This is a real fear for students, but it is true of
faculty as well. We are sympathetic toward a group of people who remind us of our younger
selves. Any change in course content will now be dictated by the faculty, and will only happen
when the faculty is ready and willing to change.
This process has not ended. As we become more familiar with material creation, we will create
more of it, and better. The burgeoning quantity of open materials has become an undeniable
reality. In fact, there are a group of Canadian geographers producing a specifically Canadian
human geography textbook.
6. Description of Photograph
From left to right, the people in the photo are: Dr. Todd Lindley Co-PI, Dr. Georgeta Connor Co-
PI, Dr. Joseph Henderson Co-PI, Dr. David Dorrell PI (team lead), Dr. James Lowry Co-PI. All
parties contributed to the gathering of materials and the production, testing and
implementation of the of the transformed class.