New Textbook Published Through OER Grant Program: The Making of Modern Kentucky

A new textbook on the history of Kentucky is now freely available to students everywhere.

Written by Dr. Melanie Beals Goan, Professor of History, and designed specifically for an undergraduate survey course, The Making of Modern Kentucky provides an introduction to the Commonwealth and the forces that have shaped its development since the late 18th century.

The book is easily accessible online, and with videos, maps, podcasts, and links to additional resources built into the text, it is interactive and promotes further reading and exploration. 

And as an open educational resource (OER), the textbook is free for anyone to use, share, or revise. 

The project began in 2024 after Goan received funding from UK Libraries’ OER Grant Program to develop materials for her survey course, “The Making of Modern Kentucky." 

“A lot of students who take the course are native Kentuckians, but many are brand new freshmen, coming from out of state, and thus have very little background on the Commonwealth and its traditions,” said Goan. “The course needs to be accessible to many different people, and I found that available textbooks were too long and too detailed to work well in a survey course. Writing my own textbook helped ensure that students get a resource that is tailored specifically to their needs and interests. Plus, I don’t want students to spend a penny more than they have to on course materials.”

Goan initially set out with aims for a much more modest project. “But very quickly, UK’s Affordable Course Content Librarian helped me imagine the possibilities,” she said. “From there, I decided to write a textbook from scratch, with all new material.”

In addition to funding, all OER grantees receive tailored support from the Affordable Course Content Librarian and the Open Publishing Specialist throughout the duration of their projects, from planning and copyright and licensing consultations to web accessibility checks and cover design.

“I would have never, ever taken on such a big project without the encouragement I received from UK Libraries staff,” said Goan. “It took me two years to write my book, and Libraries staff were there every step of the way. I had no experience with online publishing platforms or the backend work that goes into the development of OER textbooks, but they walked me through the basics, let me experiment, and then redirected me when I got stuck. Not only did they provide this technical support, but they also provided services that an academic print publisher would provide, such as copy-editing and help with the peer review process.” 

Goan is now working on supplementary materials that will help instructors adapt the book to their own classrooms. “My hope is that this book can become a resource for other educators around the state,” she said.

Since its launch in 2016 as the Alternative Textbook Grant Program, the initiative has impacted thousands of students across every corner of campus. By replacing costly commercial textbooks, the materials created or adopted through the program reduce financial barriers for students and increase access to and participation in higher education.

The program also allows instructors to create textbooks and other resources that fit precisely into the scope and level of their courses, providing students high-quality, low-cost course materials that were not previously available at any price. Some of these resources have been adopted by instructors at other institutions.

In 2024, the Alternative Textbook Grant was restructured to focus on OER – which include not only textbooks, but assignments, podcasts, slides, videos, and more – and became the OER Grant Program. The competitive program receives applications from a wide variety of departments and distributes $25,000 across nine or ten projects each year. 

Since 2024, the program has funded 27 projects from 20 departments in ten colleges across the university. Materials developed from these projects currently save UK students approximately $123,895 per year – annual cost savings that are expected to increase rapidly as new projects are completed and past ones are used year after year. Cumulative savings over the ten-year history of the Alternative Textbook/OER programs exceed $1.5 million.

Over the past several years, UK Libraries has devoted even more resources to increasing access to higher education and helping UK faculty find, use, and create OER, including the establishment of dedicated Affordable Course Content and Open Publishing roles. Open educational resources were recently named a high-impact practice by the American Association of Colleges & Universities.

Anyone teaching at UK can receive support finding, using, and creating OER, with services not limited to grant recipients. To learn more or discuss a potential project, contact the Affordable Course Content Librarian at ACCLibrarian@l.uky.edu. 

Applications for the 2027 OER Grant Program cycle will open in February.