Open Textbooks: Access, Affordability, and Academic Success

Open Textbooks

Open TextbooksAccess, Affordability, and Academic SuccessJohn Hilton III, PhDBrigham Young University

@johnhiltoniiiBy David Ernst. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights higher education shall be equally accessible to all

Were here to talk about something more important than textbooks2

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

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.3

http://www.sheeo.org

Compare the proportion of cost that students must contribute in 1989 to today.4

http://www.sheeo.org

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.

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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) were getting close to this today6

The average borrower owes more than

$28,950

in student loans (class of 2014).http://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data-2015

About 2/3 of students borrow to get through school. These borrows graduate with an average debt of Include institutions data can be found at http://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data-2015

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Federal Reserve http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/Current/

Consumer Revolving Credit = Credit Card Debt8

What can we do?Tuition and FeesRoom and BoardBooks and SuppliesPersonal ExpensesTransportation

Admit that its not the highest cost leading to these affordability issues but it is:the one cost that we as faculty can impactit has a special impact on the academic success of students (as well see later)9

What can we do?Tuition and FeesRoom and BoardBooks and SuppliesPersonal ExpensesTransportation

Admit that its not the highest cost leading to these affordability issues but it is:the one cost that we as faculty can impactit has a special impact on the academic success of students (as well see later)

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Copyrighted graph reproduced from http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21612200-its-economics-101-why-textbooks-cost-so-much

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/freshman-year/college-textbook-prices-have-risen-812-percent-1978-n399926

[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.

The average student should budget

$1,249 - $1,364

for textbooks and course materials in 2015-16.Concordia University = $900

To get the institutions estimate Google [name of institution] cost of attendance and find the books and supplies category.13

What do you think about the cost of textbooks?

Its important to have the voice of students in the room.14

What do you think about the cost of textbooks?

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?

Dont 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

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Coping with the CostPurchase an older edition of the textbookDelay purchasing the textbookNever purchase the textbookShare the textbook with other students

This section explores the ways students cope with the high costs and the academic risk, and the academic impact that those actions have.17

U of MN Student"I figured French hadn't changed that much.

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.18

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

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.19

Have you ever delayed purchasing a textbook because of cost?

Another voice of the student 20

Have you ever delayed purchasing a textbook because of cost?

7/10

students surveyed hadnt bought a required textbook due to cost.http://www.slideshare.net/txtbks/open-education-and-solving-the-textbook-cost-crisis

At some point in their academic career, 70% of students have not purchased a required textbook because of cost.22

63.6%Not purchase the required textbook49.2%Take fewer courses45.1%Not register for a specific course33.9%Earn a poor grade26.7%Drop a course17.0%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

This slide is the key slide in making the point that cost is having an academic impact.23

One last student video. Note what he says about how he will choose his classes.

One last student video. Note what he says about how he will choose his classes.

Depressed yet?

Ask them if theyre 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. Lets look at a simplified explanation of the business model26

Publishers invest in creating a textbook27

they recoup their investment (and make a profit) through sales of the books...28

and have money to pay royalties to authors typically 5% - 12%. So, if a book is free (there arent any sales), how could this possibly work?29

Other models

Two other models30

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.31

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 same32

the author can even get paid.33

Where does the funding come from?Universities (SUNY, Umass Amherst, Portland State, )Foundations (Hewlett, Gates, )Governments (state, federal)Institutional Consortia (CALI)

Where does this funding come from?34

Some example books from (1) Portland State University, and (2) SUNY funded by the institutions35

OpenStax (Rice University) funded by foundations36

CALI is funded by just about every law school in the country and they update these books annually. funded by members.37

Theres 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?38

Acknowledge that copyright law is extremely important. Then note that it wasnt intended to help people who want to share. So it isnt sufficient in this case. We need 39

the Creative Commons. The CC is a nonprofit that created licenses to help people who want to share intellectual proerty.40

All RightsReservedSome RightsReserved

So, the CC license is the last piece to this model. Now the end user knows what the intent of the funder/publisher is.43

Plus

Plus44

With Creative Commons licenses, you are free toCopyMixShareKeepEditUse

The licenses allow for these things45

give a brief overview of the four license components.46

Quick Kahoot Test

https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=02ef2331-68dd-413c-88fd-039a3967697247

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 dont notice...48

MIT Open CoursewareThis 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.49

TED Talks: BY NC ND

Ask what that means.50

So, thats what a CC license is for

Dont get too bogged down in scenarios of CC remixing, etc. Tell them that this is just an overview.51

open.umn.edu

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 reviews52

this is what the reviews are looking like so far on a scale of 1-5...53

13 Peer Reviewed Studies of Efficacyhttp://openedgroup.org/

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 outcomesthings like exam performanceof 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 SixCampus 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. (OApreprint) 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), 3750. Hilton, J., & Laman, C. (2012). One colleges use of an open psychology textbook. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 27(3), 201217. 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)54

119,720 Students

http://openedgroup.org/

These studies include an aggregated sample of nearly 120,000 students



95% Same or Better Outcomes


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.



14 Peer Reviewed Studies of Perceptions of OER Qualityhttp://openedgroup.org/

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, 125. 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. (OApreprint). 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), 3750. 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), 17. Petrides, L., Jimes, C., MiddletonDetzner, 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/2381/3497and CA OER Whitepaper

Sept. update includes Delimont et al. (2016) and Illowsky, B. S., Hilton III, J., Whiting, J., & Ackerman, J. D. (2016)

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6,050 Professors and Students



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35%Better15%Worsehttp://openedgroup.org/


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Introductory, algebra-based, two-semester college physics1272 pagesAvailable in:-PDF-Print-Web-Bookshare (accessible)

Complete - openly licensed - freely available.Open Textbook Library60

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.60

Instructor solution manualExtensive supplemental resources for students and facultyPowerPoint slides10 reviews in the Open Textbook Library

Complete - openly licensed - freely available.Open Textbook Library61

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.

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Examples of Customizing

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.

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Math Remix Video

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.65

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!).

Heres the new title page with the faculty listed as authors.66

Theres another case of 3 faculty members who teach a personal finance class. They were using an open textbook. But said that they didnt 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 didnt 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.67

But of course CPI is public info so they realized that they could update it. They dont 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?68

PM4ID

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.69

What can we do?Take a look!Write a review!Adopt if a book meets the needs of you and your studentsRaise awareness - talk with colleagues in your program and department

This is what they can do70

Writing a ReviewIs there is a textbook in the Open Textbook Library that fits your class and/or expertise?Departmental funding for:attending this workshop, andreviewing a textbook in the Open Textbook Library

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 #171

Writing a ReviewYou will receive an email with a link to the online review form.Complete a concise review by November 18, 2016.The review will be posted on the Open Textbook Library under an open license.Stipend will be paid.

Heres 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 its 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 its not a big deal. 72

John Hilton III, PhDBrigham 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.

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Open Textbooks: Access, Affordability, and Academic Success

Education

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