The LEAD Scholars Academy — Stacey Malaret, Virginia Koch, Mark Allen Poisel, and Germayne Graham — has made a significant and consistent effort to reduce course material costs for students at UCF.
The team adopted affordable and open educational resources (OER) for LDR 2001: Foundations of Leadership Studies and LDR 2002: Intermediate Leadership Studies, benefiting approximately 1,300 students since 2019.
For their innovative and collaborative efforts, as well as their ongoing commitment to reducing textbook costs while enhancing student success, Stacey Malaret, Virginia Koch, Mark Allen Poisel, and Germayne Graham have been selected as the 2025 AIM High Impact Group Legacy Award recipients.
It has been wonderful to have such a responsive partner in LEAD Scholars in our efforts to reduce textbook costs for students.
The LEAD Scholars Academy’s commitment to affordability began when the team encountered contracting challenges with their previous publisher. Recognizing an opportunity to explore new options, they collaborated with the John C. Hitt Library to create a custom OER tailored to the needs of first-year LEAD students. Faculty within the program authored leadership modules, while the library contributed additional open resources, all of which were integrated directly into Canvas as a free, virtual textbook.
By adopting these accessible materials, the team not only eliminated textbook costs but also ensured that students always had learning materials readily available—whether in class, at home, or on the go. This shift to OER also reinforced sustainability efforts by reducing reliance on printed textbooks.
Since 2019, this OER within the LDR course sections has saved approximately $126,441.
The LEAD Scholars Academy group also extended their gratitude to Denise Lowe, Instructional Designer from the Center for Distributed Learning, and Rich Gause, UCF Librarian, for their valuable support and contributions to this work.
Pictured left to right: Joel Cramer; Stacey Malaret, Mark Allen Poisel, and Virginia Koch
Resource
Leadership research guide: https://guides.ucf.edu/leadership