Since 2008, higher education constituents-local, state, and national policy makers as well as students and faculty across the United States-have been compelled, by the rapidly increasing cost(s) of higher education, amid a global economic crisis, to look for alternatives to ever-expensive college textbooks as well as to note changing attitudes about the in-class learning experiences of post-secondary students. This session examines the inner-connections of confronting the issues of rising financial costs and creating significant learning experiences for students at the University of Georgia (UGA) via course redesigns of Dr. Montgomery Wolf's (UGA History Dept.) two halves of the U.S. History survey course (2014-2015). In so doing, it addresses two of the conference strands: developing students' critical thinking skills and Open Educational Resources (OER).
