Alfredo Zuniga will use OhioLINK Mini-Grant to enhance introductory neuroscience class

Alfredo Zuniga, assistant professor of neuroscience at The College of Wooster, was awarded an OhioLINK Open Educational Resource Course Redesign Mini-Grant that will help enhance the College’s Introduction to Neuroscience class and integrate open-access materials into the class.

OhioLINK grants help faculty learn to use openly licensed or other affordable course content for high-enrollment classes. Zuniga will find and utilize open-access materials for students to engage with in many ways. In addition to replacing the current textbook, he will integrate different kinds of resources that appeal to different learning styles.

Zuniga will explore the basics of open education, review an open-access or low-cost resource, learn how to align course content with learning outcomes, and reflect on advocating for affordable or open-access course materials in the future. He will also be paired with an OhioLINK librarian who will review his syllabus and match suggested openly licensed, affordable, or library-licensed content to syllabus topics.

As a relatively new faculty member at Wooster, Zuniga looks forward to finding and integrating low-cost or open-access neuroscience materials into the course. By fall 2024, a new, free digital textbook that incorporates instructional videos will likely be integrated into the course, along with modeling/simulation software. The software will allow students to replicate what it is like to record the electrical properties of neurons and visualize the nervous system in various species.

Zuniga also plans to incorporate popular neuroscience nonfiction audio or e-books into the course. “Too often, I have heard students say that the cost of books is an additional pressure they struggle with in college,” he said. “We as a department are committed to making neuroscience education more accessible and equitable. Using high-quality, open-access materials is one way we can move forward with our goal.”

Posted in News on May 20, 2024.