WMU Libraries publishes open textbooks on religion and Chinese language

Kalamazoo, Mich.—Western Michigan University Libraries is thrilled to announce the publication of two open textbooks by Western faculty funded by Open Educational Resources Creation Grants. 

Western students and learners worldwide now have free online access to “Seeing the World Through Religion and Culture,” by Drs. Diane Riggs and Anderson Hagler, and “Career Chinese: Bridging the Gaps for Success,” by Dr. Xiaojun Wang, Jin Liu, Ping Yu and Yuanyuan Huang.

In many cases, authors create open textbooks to address a gap in content available in the OER landscape, which is the case for both new textbooks.

“Career Chinese” will help “bridge the gaps for student career success” in international employment and encourage a global perspective of different cultures and conversations that may emerge in the workplace, according to the grant proposal.

This textbook will be used not only at Western but also by Greenville High School and Forest Hills Northern High School students who are dually enrolled in CHIN 1010 at Western.

“Seeing the World Through Religion and Culture” is an online illustrated textbook that supports introductory classes in world religions. It also includes chapters on indigenous religions to help support new courses in Native American religions.

Both titles were created with support from the Libraries’ Open Educational Resources (OER) Grants program, which supports the adoption and creation of OER that are free for instructors and students to use, adapt and remix. Grant-funded authors received funding and publishing support from the University Libraries and technical expertise from WMUx to create high-quality, interactive open textbooks that support learning everywhere.

Visit Scholarworks to access all open books published by the University Libraries.

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.