Congratulations to Afrand Agah, Professor of Computer Science and participant in the Teaching & Learning Center’s eTextbook Initiative, for completing her new electronic textbook Python Programming Made Simple. Dr. Agah’s book, which replaces a $95 commercial textbook, will be provided to WCU students for free and used in CSC 141 – Computer Science I starting in Spring 2024.

As Dr. Agah describes, “This book is designed to be used in an introductory programming course for students looking to learn Python. And there is no need to have any prior experience with programming. Basic programming concepts such as variables, strings, decisions, functions, loops, and file input/output are discussed. Every topic is explained and illustrated with a Python program. At the end of each section, sample programming questions are provided for practicing.”

The eTextbook Initiative was founded in 2017 as a way to help combat the rising costs of textbooks by teaching WCU faculty how to build their own high-quality, interactive electronic textbooks. These textbooks are then provided to WCU students for free, helping to lower the overall cost of their education while removing the financial barrier to obtaining these educational materials. If you are a WCU faculty member who is interested in building their own eTextbook, please contact Marc Drumm, Senior Instructional Designer, at mdrumm@wcupa.edu.