Sangamon Sun

Lake Land College math instructor Sarah Harley recently released an open educational resource (OER) math textbook called “Math in General Education.” Harley teaches general education math, and she said she noticed a need in this area and compiled an updated resource for her students.

“We had been using the same textbook for several years and it was time for an update,” Harley said. “Many times when math textbooks are updated, the changes are more cosmetic than beneficial to the content. I knew there were tons of free online resources, so I started to collect the information my students would need into one resource.”

Harley’s textbook will allow a great deal of flexibility for her students, who will no longer need to bring a physical textbook to class and can access the textbook content from many different devices, including smartphones, tablets and laptops.

“For the most part, students usually only use the textbook for homework problems,” Harley said. “This makes is very easy for students to just print and bring their homework to class, versus only using a few pages out of an often expensive physical book.”

Harley said adapting this resource is just one of the many things she does to make her material relatable to her students.

“I have heard from numerous students at the end of my classes saying that I have helped them overcome their struggles with math or that I have made it easier for them to understand some of the concepts.”

Not only does Harley teach financial math, which helps students develop valuable skills and knowledge they can apply in many areas of their lives, Harley also focuses on real-life applications of math concepts.

“One project I do that is always a lot of fun has to do with conversion,” Harley said. “We look at how much time is spent doing something per day, then convert that to how much time we spend in a lifetime doing that thing. For example, we could look at how much screen time someone spends during a day, then convert that to how many years that equals in a lifetime.”

Harley said she feels that the accessibility of the OER textbook will fit well with her teaching style and will help her students succeed.

For more information on math at Lake Land College, visit lakelandcollege.edu/guided-pathways.

Original source can be found here.