Edward Waters University (EWU) is positioned to serve the evolving needs of the students, region, and state of Florida in the coming decades.  As a part of this commitment to academic growth within the region and globally, the Office of Distance Learning serves as a hub to increase the digital footprint of the University. Fostering cross-disciplinary research, partnerships, global leadership and innovation within the academic enterprise, the Office of Distance Learning will strategically position EWU to offer an online student support option that will facilitate best-in-class experiences within the academic and related student service offices. In addition, the institution is committed to serving students and providing access to educational opportunities that may not otherwise be afforded to them, in particular students that are socioeconomically challenged. Thus, the institution serves a population of students in which more than 30 percent of its undergraduate students received a Pell Grant.  In fact, greater than 60 percent of the student population is Pell eligible, with 88 percent of the student population receiving Pell Grants during the 2019-2020 academic year.

In pursuit of this commitment, EWU signed a partnership Memorandum of Understanding with the California State University's MERLOT organization on November 9, 2020, for the design and deployment of Edward Waters' Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) Initiative. MERLOT is a free and open online community and collection of teaching and learning resources designed primarily for faculty, staff, and students of higher education. MERLOT's open educational services enable teachers and learners from around the world to, freely, share their instructional resources and pedagogy. MERLOT's library (www.merlot.org) provides a collection of peer-reviewed online learning materials, including almost 5,000 free and open e-textbooks, catalogued by registered MERLOT members. MERLOT also provides a wide range of faculty development and student support services.

EWU's AL$ initiative creates the Edward Waters University Open Online Library for Education (EWUOOL4Ed). EWUOOL4Ed provides a digital infrastructure that will improve college affordability for students with free e-textbooks and educational resources. Having free and immediate access to instructional resources will enable more students to enroll and succeed in more courses as they progress toward graduation in a timely manner.

EWUOOL4Ed will enable faculty to develop online courses and programs using free and quality Open Education Resources (OER). It will also help faculty develop educational multimedia resources and open textbooks to contribute back to the OER and Open Access (OA) global movements. This project not only enhances EWU's eLearning infrastructure, but it will help engage other HBCUs and international partners.

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