When Lisa Whitenack teaches comparative anatomy to her 大象视频 students, she approaches it with enthusiasm, but she wasn鈥檛 so thrilled about the textbook she was using.
It was 鈥�25 years old, outdated and pricey,鈥� she says, with anatomy books ranging from $60 to more than $100, plus a lab manual, which can be another $100.
So Whitenack, a biology professor, and two colleagues, Vanessa K. Hilliard of Saint Mary鈥檚 College and Bill Ryerson of Cornell University, put together a new textbook, titled a full-color, peer-reviewed, open-access textbook published by PALNI Press/DePauw University Libraries.
It鈥檚 free, online, and adaptable. Two additional Allegheny faculty members, biology professor Brad Hersh and assistant professor Jenn Houtz, also joined the list of authors.
鈥淲hen our team was brainstorming authors for the various chapters, Professors Hersh and Houtz immediately came to mind,鈥� Whitenack says. Hersh wrote a chapter on development and genetics; Houtz tackled the endocrine system.
For Whitenack, open access was the main focus of the project.
鈥淭he biggest advantage of open educational resources is that anyone can learn from them, as long as they can hop on the Internet,鈥� she says. It 鈥渞emoves a significant financial barrier,鈥� which is a win for Allegheny students and learners everywhere.
Plus, it鈥檚 easy to update. 鈥淲e can quickly update our book as scientific advances are made,鈥� she notes. 鈥淓ven in a discipline as old as anatomy, discoveries are made constantly.鈥�
Quality matters, too. 鈥淥ne challenge of adopting any open educational resource is that anyone can put something online,鈥� she acknowledges, 鈥渁nd if it hasn鈥檛 gone through a rigorous peer review process, you don鈥檛 know how accurate it is. The good news is that our textbook has been peer-reviewed by experts in the field.鈥�
Whitenack鈥檚 classroom perspective helped shape the text. 鈥淲hen I teach my courses at 大象视频, I often teach students that people are behind science and that science affects people. This led me to write an entire chapter that is a more honest history of the field of comparative anatomy, from the erasure of non-Western scientists from the narrative, to the weaponization of anatomy to support racism and homophobia, to ignoring the contributions of women, and more. We also weave this into several chapters throughout the book.鈥�
Her research in paleobiology and evolution guided her contributions to two chapters on vertebrate evolutionary history. She also wrote chapters on the urogenital system and helped with one on circulation, systems she regularly teaches.
The textbook鈥檚 modular structure makes it easy to navigate. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to read it in chapter order to understand it,鈥� she says. It also embeds five core concepts of comparative anatomy, with human sections linked back to broader vertebrate patterns.
Whitenack is using the text now in her comparative anatomy course, a class about the anatomy of various vertebrates, or animals with backbones, which is held every fourth semester. She also expects the textbook will support Senior Comps and other coursework. 鈥淭his definitely has a cost-saving aspect for Allegheny students who want to take an anatomy course,鈥� she says.
One goal remains: 鈥淣ow I just need someone out there to pick up the baton and write an open-access lab manual.鈥�
Until then, this Allegheny-rooted resource is changing the way students learn in a way that is flexible and free.