LCCC Associate Professor Mathematics Jeffrey Zeager, Ph.D. (second from left) and Lakeland Community College Professor of Mathematics Carl Stitz, Ph.D., receive their “Faculty Innovator Award” from Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut and Francis Strickland, First Lady of Ohio.

Zeager and his colleague Carl Stitz, Ph.D, a professor of Mathematics at Lakeland Community College, teamed up in 2008 to start working on an electronic textbook for the College Algebra course at both colleges.  It was first available in spring semester of 2009 and again this past spring semester.

“There is nothing new in algebra over the last 100 years,” Zeager said.  “We felt there was no good reason for students to be paying for a new book when the information didn’t change.”

Their college algebra book – called “The Free College Algebra Textbook” – can be adapted to any educational organization’s needs anywhere in the world, free of cost. The project initially began as part of the “Stitz-Zeager Open Source Precalculus Project,” which they launched after becoming concerned about the affordability of college textbooks for their students.

Much of the mathematical rigor in traditional textbooks diminished over the years, thereby robbing students of valuable mathematical learning, Zeager said.

The full text is available online, where students can download the text as an Adobe PDF for free. Students also can purchase printed versions for the cost of printing and binding from the LCCC Bookstore, which is less than $20 per book (as opposed to more than $100 for traditional texts). Professors Stitz and Zeager have received positive feedback from colleagues across the state, nation, and from as far away as The Netherlands.

Several national college textbook outlets have pursued the authors to publish their work. However, they have declined all offers in order to maintain their original vision of creating a high-quality, content textbook that is within reach and accessible to the average college student.

Several of Zeager and Stitz’s colleagues at LCCC and Lakeland also used the free textbook for their algebra classes and Zeager said it will be used in all Math 171 College Algebra classes in fall at LCCC.