On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
Open Textbooks: Access, Affordability, and Academic Success
1. Open Textbooks
Access, Affordability, and Academic Success
John Hilton III, PhD
Brigham Young University
@johnhiltoniii
By David Ernst. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2. –United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
“…higher education shall be equally
accessible to all…”
3. The cost barrier kept
2.4 million
low and moderate-income college-qualified high
school graduates from completing college in the
previous decade.
The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529499.pdf
13. The average student should budget
$1,249 - $1,364
for textbooks and course materials in 2015-16.
Concordia University = $900
14. What do you think about the cost of textbooks?
15.
16. What do you think about the cost of textbooks?
17. Coping with the Cost
• Purchase an older edition of the textbook
• Delay purchasing the textbook
• Never purchase the textbook
• Share the textbook with other students
18. –U of MN Student
"I figured French hadn't changed that
much.”
19. 59%
of students report that they have had to wait for
their financial aid check to purchase textbooks.
Unpublished Minnesota State University Student Association survey
20. Have you ever delayed purchasing a textbook because of cost?
21. Have you ever delayed purchasing a textbook because of cost?
22. 7/10
students surveyed hadn’t bought a required
textbook due to cost.
http://www.slideshare.net/txtbks/open-education-and-solving-the-textbook-cost-crisis
23. 63.6% Not purchase the required textbook
49.2% Take fewer courses
45.1% Not register for a specific course
33.9% Earn a poor grade
26.7% Drop a course
17.0% Fail a course
In your academic career, has the cost of
required textbooks caused you to:
http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf
24. One last student video. Note what he says
about how he will choose his classes.
25. One last student video. Note what he says
about how he will choose his classes.
60. • Introductory, algebra-based,
two-semester college physics
• 1272 pages
• Available in:
-PDF
-Print
-Web
-Bookshare (accessible)
Complete - openly licensed - freely available.
Open Textbook Library 60
61. • Instructor solution manual
• Extensive supplemental
resources for students and
faculty
• PowerPoint slides
• 10 reviews in the Open
Textbook Library
Complete - openly licensed - freely available.
Open Textbook Library 61
70. What can we do?
• Take a look!
• Write a review!
• Adopt if a book meets the needs of you and your
students
• Raise awareness - talk with colleagues in your
program and department
71. Writing a Review
Is there is a textbook in the Open Textbook Library that
fits your class and/or expertise?
Departmental funding for:
1. attending this workshop, and
2. reviewing a textbook in the Open Textbook Library
72. Writing a Review
1. You will receive an email with a link to the online
review form.
2. Complete a concise review by November 18, 2016.
3. The review will be posted on the Open Textbook
Library under an open license.
4. Stipend will be paid.
73. John Hilton III, PhD
Brigham Young University
@johnhiltoniii
Slides: http://slideshare.net/djernst
Open Textbook Library: open.umn.edu
By David Ernst. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Hinweis der Redaktion
We’re here to talk about something more important than textbooks…
This is from a study done for the US Department of Education. 2.4 million did not finish college because of cost in the first decade of this century.
Compare the proportion of cost that students must contribute in 1989 to today.
This is Oregon
But its still hard to picture what this means for an individual student.
Data can be found at http://www.sheeo.org.
This shows the number of hours a student would need to work at minimum wage to afford one year of tuition at the University of Minnesota.
200-400 hours = a full time job in the summer.
2080 hours = full time job all year (40 hours x 52 weeks) – we’re getting close to this today
About 2/3 of students borrow to get through school. These borrows graduate with an average debt of …
Include institution’s data – can be found at http://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data-2015
Consumer Revolving Credit = Credit Card Debt
Admit that it’s not the highest cost leading to these affordability issues – but it is:
the one cost that we as faculty can impact
it has a special impact on the academic success of students (as we’ll see later)
Admit that it’s not the highest cost leading to these affordability issues – but it is:
the one cost that we as faculty can impact
it has a special impact on the academic success of students (as we’ll see later)
Copyrighted graph reproduced from http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21612200-its-economics-101-why-textbooks-cost-so-much
“[Textbook prices] have all been going up at a much faster rate than any other consumer product,” said Mark Perry, a finance and business economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint.
To get the institution’s estimate – Google “[name of institution] cost of attendance” and find the “books and supplies” category.
It’s important to have the voice of students in the room.
What strikes me about these students is how reasonable and measured they are. You can hear in what they are saying that they see the value in the books and they do understand that faculty are trying. But how many of you recognize what they are talking about? Right? We are all familiar with this. The cost is a burden. And the result of that burden is a barrier.
How do you think students cope with these high costs?
Don’t get me wrong. Textbooks do have value. They make it easy. Comprehensive, sequenced, illustrations, problem sets, etc. A lot of work to go and piece that all together.
But with books and materials, just as faculty have control over this, this is the one thing that students have control over as well.
They cannot choose to not pay rent, for example. Textbooks on the other hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d6HTN6llgo
This section explores the ways students cope with the high costs and the academic risk, and the academic impact that those actions have.
This student was asked to buy an $80 textbook, but found one that was 2 editions older for $8 on Amazon. This was his rationale, which seems pretty reasonable. However, he also said that he knew he was taking some academic risk.
Students often need to wait 3 weeks until their financial aid payments arrive to purchase their textbooks. The same kind of delay also occurs for students who use the GI bill to fund their education.
Another “voice of the student”
At some point in their academic career, 70% of students have not purchased a required textbook because of cost.
This slide is the key slide in making the point that cost is having an academic impact.
Ask them if they’re depressed yet. This is the end of defining the problem.
I typically ask what would solve this problem – what would make all the percentages on slide 22 go to 0%? Eventually, someone will say “free textbooks”. Ask the question “but how could a textbook be free? They typically cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to create.” Let’s look at a simplified explanation of the business model…
Publishers invest in creating a textbook…
…they recoup their investment (and make a profit) through sales of the books...
…and have money to pay royalties to authors – typically 5% - 12%. So, if a book is free (there aren’t any sales), how could this possibly work?
Two other models…
Model 1: Someone writes a book, usually for their own course, and puts it on the internet for others to use. This is not the most prevalent, nor is it where the activity is right now…
Admit that these books might not be peer reviewed in the traditional sense.
Model 2: The addition of a “funder”. The funder agrees to pay for production of the book, but with one stipulation: The book needs to be free forever. The publishing process could be exactly the same…
…the author can even get paid.
Where does this funding come from?
Some example books from (1) Portland State University, and (2) SUNY – funded by the institutions
OpenStax (Rice University) – funded by foundations
CALI is funded by “just about every law school in the country” and they update these books annually. – funded by members.
There’s just one thing missing…
How does the end user – the faculty and students – know the intent of the funder and publisher? Can they just give these books away for free? What about copyright?
Acknowledge that copyright law is extremely important. Then note that it wasn’t intended to help people who want to share. So it isn’t sufficient in this case. We need …
… the Creative Commons. The CC is a nonprofit that created licenses to help people who want to share intellectual proerty.
So, the CC license is the last piece to this model. Now the end user knows what the intent of the funder/publisher is.
Plus…
The licenses allow for these things…
…give a brief overview of the four license components.
These are the 6 CC licenses. Maybe even quiz them on one or two...
Note that these licenses are used in many places, but we often don’t notice...
MIT Open Courseware
This is a screenshot from an OCW page – there was a video above. Note the license.
MIT wants you to use it, and here are their terms: (BY NC SA). Ask what that means.
TED Talks: BY NC ND
Ask what that means.
So, that’s what a CC license is for…
Don’t get too bogged down in scenarios of CC remixing, etc. Tell them that this is just an overview.
This section is about credibility. The OTL is a collection of open textbooks to make it easy to find them, but we also are asking faculty to write reviews…
…this is what the reviews are looking like so far on a scale of 1-5...
But another way to look at quality is to look at efficacy or impact on learning. And at this point there are 13 peer reviewed studies that have been published that have looked at the impact on educational outcomes—things like exam performance—of OER adoption.
Across 13 academic studies that attempted to measure results pertaining to student learning (higher ed: 15784 treatment, 99,692 control, k12: 1805 treatment 2439 control) none showed results in which students who utilized OER performed worse than their peers who used traditional textbooks.
Allen, G., Guzman-Alvarez, A., Molinaro, M., Larsen, D. (2015). Assessing the Impact and Efficacy of the Open-Access ChemWiki Textbook Project. Educause Learning Initiative Brief, January 2015. See also this newsletter. Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. M., Lack, K. A., & Nygren, T. I. (2012). Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from Randomized Trials. Ithaka S+R. Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. M., Lack, K. A., & Nygren, T. I. (2014). Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from a Six‐Campus Randomized Trial. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(1), 94-111. Feldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open textbooks and increased student access and outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2012&halfyear=2&article=533. Gil, P., Candelas, F., Jara, C., Garcia, G., Torres, F (2013). Web-based OERs in Computer Networks. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(6), 1537-1550. (OA preprint) Hilton, J., Gaudet, D., Clark, P., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(4), 37–50. Hilton, J., & Laman, C. (2012). One college’s use of an open psychology textbook. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 27(3), 201–217. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657. (Open Repository Preprint). Lovett, M., Meyer, O., & Thille, C. (2008). The open learning initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2008 (1). Pawlyshyn, Braddlee, Casper and Miller (2013). Adopting OER: A Case Study of Cross-Institutional Collaboration and Innovation. Educause Review. Robinson, T.J. (2015). Open Textbooks: The Effects of Open Educational Resource Adoption on Measures of Post-secondary Student Success (Doctoral dissertation). Robinson T. J., Fischer, L., Wiley, D. A., & Hilton, J. (2014). The impact of open textbooks on secondary science learning outcomes. Educational Researcher, 43(7): 341-351. Wiley, D., Hilton, J. Ellington, S., and Hall, T. (2012). “A preliminary examination of the cost savings and learning impacts of using open textbooks in middle and high school science classes.” International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 13 (3), pp. 261-276.
This also includes Fischer et al (2015), Wiley et al. (EPAA) (2016), and Hilton et al. (IRRODL) (in press)
These studies include an aggregated sample of nearly 120,000 students
Across 13 academic studies that attempted to measure results pertaining to student learning (higher ed: 15784 treatment, 99,692 control, k12: 1805 treatment 2439 control) none showed results in which students who utilized OER performed worse than their peers who used traditional textbooks.
Allen, G., Guzman-Alvarez, A., Molinaro, M., Larsen, D. (2015). Assessing the Impact and Efficacy of the Open-Access ChemWiki Textbook Project. Educause Learning Initiative Brief, January 2015. See also this newsletter. Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. M., Lack, K. A., & Nygren, T. I. (2012). Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from Randomized Trials. Ithaka S+R. Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. M., Lack, K. A., & Nygren, T. I. (2014). Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from a Six‐Campus Randomized Trial. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(1), 94-111. Feldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open textbooks and increased student access and outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2012&halfyear=2&article=533. Gil, P., Candelas, F., Jara, C., Garcia, G., Torres, F (2013). Web-based OERs in Computer Networks. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(6), 1537-1550. (OA preprint) Hilton, J., Gaudet, D., Clark, P., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(4), 37–50. Hilton, J., & Laman, C. (2012). One college’s use of an open psychology textbook. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 27(3), 201–217. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657. (Open Repository Preprint). Lovett, M., Meyer, O., & Thille, C. (2008). The open learning initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2008 (1). Pawlyshyn, Braddlee, Casper and Miller (2013). Adopting OER: A Case Study of Cross-Institutional Collaboration and Innovation. Educause Review. Robinson, T.J. (2015). Open Textbooks: The Effects of Open Educational Resource Adoption on Measures of Post-secondary Student Success (Doctoral dissertation). Robinson T. J., Fischer, L., Wiley, D. A., & Hilton, J. (2014). The impact of open textbooks on secondary science learning outcomes. Educational Researcher, 43(7): 341-351. Wiley, D., Hilton, J. Ellington, S., and Hall, T. (2012). “A preliminary examination of the cost savings and learning impacts of using open textbooks in middle and high school science classes.” International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 13 (3), pp. 261-276.
This also includes Fischer et al (2015), Wiley et al. (EPAA) (2016), and Hilton et al. (IRRODL) (in press)
And amazingly, 95% show the same or better outcomes. That is, replacing an expensive commercial textbook with a free open textbook does more than not harm students, it helps students. I have been doing some of this research in BC so please feel free to ask me about this.
Across 13 academic studies that attempted to measure results pertaining to student learning (higher ed: 15784 treatment, 99,692 control, k12: 1805 treatment 2439 control) none showed results in which students who utilized OER performed worse than their peers who used traditional textbooks.
Allen, G., Guzman-Alvarez, A., Molinaro, M., Larsen, D. (2015). Assessing the Impact and Efficacy of the Open-Access ChemWiki Textbook Project. Educause Learning Initiative Brief, January 2015. See also this newsletter. Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. M., Lack, K. A., & Nygren, T. I. (2012). Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from Randomized Trials. Ithaka S+R. Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. M., Lack, K. A., & Nygren, T. I. (2014). Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from a Six‐Campus Randomized Trial. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(1), 94-111. Feldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open textbooks and increased student access and outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2012&halfyear=2&article=533. Gil, P., Candelas, F., Jara, C., Garcia, G., Torres, F (2013). Web-based OERs in Computer Networks. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(6), 1537-1550. (OA preprint) Hilton, J., Gaudet, D., Clark, P., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(4), 37–50. Hilton, J., & Laman, C. (2012). One college’s use of an open psychology textbook. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 27(3), 201–217. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657. (Open Repository Preprint). Lovett, M., Meyer, O., & Thille, C. (2008). The open learning initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2008 (1). Pawlyshyn, Braddlee, Casper and Miller (2013). Adopting OER: A Case Study of Cross-Institutional Collaboration and Innovation. Educause Review. Robinson, T.J. (2015). Open Textbooks: The Effects of Open Educational Resource Adoption on Measures of Post-secondary Student Success (Doctoral dissertation). Robinson T. J., Fischer, L., Wiley, D. A., & Hilton, J. (2014). The impact of open textbooks on secondary science learning outcomes. Educational Researcher, 43(7): 341-351. Wiley, D., Hilton, J. Ellington, S., and Hall, T. (2012). “A preliminary examination of the cost savings and learning impacts of using open textbooks in middle and high school science classes.” International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 13 (3), pp. 261-276.
This also includes Fischer et al (2015), Wiley et al. (EPAA) (2016), and Hilton et al. (IRRODL) (in press)
In terms of student and teacher perceptions of OER, 2,717 students and 2,484 faculty members were surveyed across the nine peer-reviewed studies. Approximately 50% said that the OER resources were as good as traditional resources, 35% said the OER were superior and 15% said they were inferior.
Allen, I., Seaman, J. (2014). Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2014. Bliss, T., Robinson, T. J., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). An OER COUP: College teacher and student perceptions of Open Educational Resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1–25. Bliss, T., Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Thanos, K. (2013). The cost and quality of open textbooks: Perceptions of community college faculty and students. First Monday, 18:1. Feldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open textbooks and increased student access and outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2012&halfyear=2&article=533. Gil, P., Candelas, F., Jara, C., Garcia, G., Torres, F (2013). Web-based OERs in Computer Networks. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(6), 1537-1550. (OA preprint). Hilton, J., Gaudet, D., Clark, P., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(4), 37–50. Lindshield, B., & Adhikari, K. (2013). Online and campus college students like using an open educational resource instead of a traditional textbook. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 9(1), 1–7. Petrides, L., Jimes, C., Middleton‐Detzner, C., Walling, J., & Weiss, S. (2011). Open textbook adoption and use: Implications for teachers and learners. Open learning, 26(1), 39-49, Pitt, R., Ebrahimi, N., McAndrew, P., & Coughlan, T. (2013). Assessing OER impact across organisations and learners: experiences from the Bridge to Success project. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2013(3). Jhangiani, R. S., Pitt, R., Hendricks, C., Key, J., & Lalonde, C. (2016). Exploring faculty use of open educational resources at British Columbia post-secondary institutions. BCcampus Research Report. Victoria, BC: BCcampus.
https://bccampus.ca/files/2016/01/BCFacultyUseOfOER_final.pdf, Pitt, R. (2015). Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College open textbooks. The International Review of Research in Open And Distributed Learning, 16(4).
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2381/3497
and CA OER Whitepaper
Sept. update includes Delimont et al. (2016) and Illowsky, B. S., Hilton III, J., Whiting, J., & Ackerman, J. D. (2016)
In terms of student and teacher perceptions of OER, 2,717 students and 2,484 faculty members were surveyed across the nine peer-reviewed studies. Approximately 50% said that the OER resources were as good as traditional resources, 35% said the OER were superior and 15% said they were inferior.
Allen, I., Seaman, J. (2014). Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2014. Bliss, T., Robinson, T. J., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). An OER COUP: College teacher and student perceptions of Open Educational Resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1–25. Bliss, T., Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Thanos, K. (2013). The cost and quality of open textbooks: Perceptions of community college faculty and students. First Monday, 18:1. Feldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open textbooks and increased student access and outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2012&halfyear=2&article=533. Gil, P., Candelas, F., Jara, C., Garcia, G., Torres, F (2013). Web-based OERs in Computer Networks. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(6), 1537-1550. (OA preprint). Hilton, J., Gaudet, D., Clark, P., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(4), 37–50. Lindshield, B., & Adhikari, K. (2013). Online and campus college students like using an open educational resource instead of a traditional textbook. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 9(1), 1–7. Petrides, L., Jimes, C., Middleton‐Detzner, C., Walling, J., & Weiss, S. (2011). Open textbook adoption and use: Implications for teachers and learners. Open learning, 26(1), 39-49, Pitt, R., Ebrahimi, N., McAndrew, P., & Coughlan, T. (2013). Assessing OER impact across organisations and learners: experiences from the Bridge to Success project. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2013(3). Jhangiani, R. S., Pitt, R., Hendricks, C., Key, J., & Lalonde, C. (2016). Exploring faculty use of open educational resources at British Columbia post-secondary institutions. BCcampus Research Report. Victoria, BC: BCcampus.
https://bccampus.ca/files/2016/01/BCFacultyUseOfOER_final.pdf, Pitt, R. (2015). Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College open textbooks. The International Review of Research in Open And Distributed Learning, 16(4).
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2381/3497
and CA OER Whitepaper
In terms of student and teacher perceptions of OER, 2,717 students and 2,484 faculty members were surveyed across the nine peer-reviewed studies. Approximately 50% said that the OER resources were as good as traditional resources, 35% said the OER were superior and 15% said they were inferior.
Allen, I., Seaman, J. (2014). Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2014. Bliss, T., Robinson, T. J., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). An OER COUP: College teacher and student perceptions of Open Educational Resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1–25. Bliss, T., Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Thanos, K. (2013). The cost and quality of open textbooks: Perceptions of community college faculty and students. First Monday, 18:1. Feldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open textbooks and increased student access and outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2012&halfyear=2&article=533. Gil, P., Candelas, F., Jara, C., Garcia, G., Torres, F (2013). Web-based OERs in Computer Networks. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(6), 1537-1550. (OA preprint). Hilton, J., Gaudet, D., Clark, P., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. (2013). The adoption of open educational resources by one community college math department. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(4), 37–50. Lindshield, B., & Adhikari, K. (2013). Online and campus college students like using an open educational resource instead of a traditional textbook. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 9(1), 1–7. Petrides, L., Jimes, C., Middleton‐Detzner, C., Walling, J., & Weiss, S. (2011). Open textbook adoption and use: Implications for teachers and learners. Open learning, 26(1), 39-49, Pitt, R., Ebrahimi, N., McAndrew, P., & Coughlan, T. (2013). Assessing OER impact across organisations and learners: experiences from the Bridge to Success project. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2013(3). Jhangiani, R. S., Pitt, R., Hendricks, C., Key, J., & Lalonde, C. (2016). Exploring faculty use of open educational resources at British Columbia post-secondary institutions. BCcampus Research Report. Victoria, BC: BCcampus.
https://bccampus.ca/files/2016/01/BCFacultyUseOfOER_final.pdf, Pitt, R. (2015). Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College open textbooks. The International Review of Research in Open And Distributed Learning, 16(4).
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2381/3497
and CA OER Whitepaper
So consider this textbook from OpenStax College. It has double digit market share across the country. It is available in a variety of digital formats, for free. And you can order a print copy. This one about $34 or so for two semesters (tends to be less than 20% of commercial publisher book). It comes with an instructor solution manual, with PowerPoint slides.
They have it in Bookshare, which produces versions that are accessible, in Braille for example. We have a responsibility to do this. I am sure Temple has an office dedicated to this.
So consider this textbook from OpenStax College. It has double digit market share across the country. It is available in a variety of digital formats, for free. And you can order a print copy. This one about $34 or so for two semesters (tends to be less than 20% of commercial publisher book). It comes with an instructor solution manual, with PowerPoint slides.
They have it in Bookshare, which produces versions that are accessible, in Braille for example. We have a responsibility to do this. I am sure Temple has an office dedicated to this.
Some examples of faculty who edited or remixed a textbook.
Math faculty who recorded simple videos explaining how to do the math problems and linked to the videos in the book. Students can watch the videos if they need help.
Faculty made the book; did not feel the book was doing everything.
Made these videos.
The very first faculty member who adopted an open textbook at the U of M taught statistics. But said that it was not quite right. She used Excel and wanted to change the book to better align with the course. So over the summer, with the assistance of a work study student, this work was completed.
2. Statistics professors who teach a 1000 level stats course edited this open textbook to align with their Excel-based course. They edited each chapter to add examples, instructions, and also wrote ~1000 multiple choice questions.
She and three of her colleagues have been using this book ever since. She also sent it back to the original author (who loves it!).
Here’s the new title page with the faculty listed as authors.
There’s another case of 3 faculty members who teach a personal finance class. They were using an open textbook. But said that they didn’t think they could keep using it b/c CPI data is from 2010.
Faculty who taught a Personal Finance” course noticed that the Consumer Price Index data was out of date. They didn’t feel that they had time to update the book. Then they realized that CPI data is public data, and instead of having student write about the CPI, they would ask students to do a primary research project with CPI data. No editing was needed, because students would see the up-to-date data in their own project.
But of course CPI is public info so they realized that they could update it. They don’t have to settle for an imperfect textbook.
And then they thought to take it a step further. They thought: What if we take that chapter out and have students do a assignment to put together contemporary research on the CPI?
Graduate students at BYU took an existing open textbook about project management, revised it to take out examples about international business, replaced them with examples from instructional design, replaced copyrighted imaged with openly licensed images, shot and embedded videos, and even created interactive, mastery-check assessments and embedded these within the book. Then released it as PM for IDs.
Since then: alignment with the Project Management Professional certification exam; an expanded glossary; and downloadable HTML, PDF, ePub, MOBI, and MP3 versions of the book.
All as course assignments, which shows you the potential for pedagogical innovation with open textbooks.
This is what they can do…
To make it clear that they are eligible for the stipend only if they do both of these things. They can put a check next to #1…
Here’s the review process. The due date – typically about 6 weeks after the workshop - should be discussed with your hosts before the workshop. Ask the faculty if the due date works for them.
Note that the review will have it’s own open license so we can share their wisdom with other open textbook projects. Note that if you over-emphasize this, some people could get cold feet. Tell them that it’s not a big deal.
