Students in Assistant Professor Kristine Weatherston’s “Genres of Media Production: Documentary” class will be spending $60 less a semester thanks to her use of innovative teaching tools.

Instead of using a traditional textbook, Weatherston will teach from the Internet, new media, hands-on training and open-source educational materials.

She was awarded $1,000 for her plan from Temple University Libraries as part of the Alternate Textbook Project. According to its web site, the program was started in 2011 in an effort to encourage faculty to find “better and less costly ways to deliver learning materials to their students.”

Twenty students are enrolled in the class this fall.

“I teach this course every semester, so this will impact students for years to come,” she said.

Including this round of awards, nearly 40 faculty members from throughout Temple have participated in the project.

For more information, visit sites.temple.edu/alttextbook.