Supporting Open Textbook Adoptions: University of Texas, Arlington

Supporting Open Textbook Adoptions

Sarah Faye CohenUniversity of Texas, Arlington

February 10, 2017

Thank you.

Today, we will:• Explore issues of affordability and their

impact on student academic success;• Identify barriers to adoption of open

textbooks and practice how you might help overcome those barriers;

• Discuss why and how you might support open textbook initiatives.

Why are we really here?

#textbookbroke

#textbookbroke

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$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

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$8,000

$9,000

$10,000US Higher Education Funding - $/FTE

State Funding Tuition Revenuehttp://www.sheeo.org

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$0

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$10,000Texas Higher Education Funding - $/FTE

State Funding Tuition Revenuehttp://www.sheeo.org

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1800 Affording Annual Tuition at the University of Minnesota

Hour

s @ M

inim

um W

age

The average borrower owes more than

$26,250in student loans (class of 2014).

Institute for College Access and Success http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/Student_Debt_and_the_Class_of_2012_NR.pdfhttp://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data-2015

Texas = $27,324

Cost of Attendance• Tuition and Fees• Room and Board• Books and Supplies• Personal Expenses• Transportation

Cost of Attendance• Tuition and Fees• Room and Board• Books and Supplies• Personal Expenses• Transportation

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0%

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400%

500%

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700%Increase in Textbook Prices

Textbooks CPI

% In

crea

se

Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/cpi/

The average student budgets

$1,230 - $1,390on textbooks and course materials in 2016-17.

http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-estimated-undergraduate-budgets-2015-16

University of Texas, Arlington = $1,206

Coping with the Cost

• Purchase an older edition of the textbook

• Delay purchasing the textbook

• Never purchase the textbook

• Share a textbook• Pirate a textbook

“I figured French hadn’t changed that much.”- UMN student

2012 2016

63.6% 66.5% Not purchase the required textbook

49.2% 47.6% Take fewer courses

45.1% 45.5% Not register for a specific course

33.9% 37.6% Earn a poor grade26.7% 26.1% Drop a course17.0% 19.8% Fail a course

In your academic career, has the cost of required textbooks caused you to:

Our focus:

Open Textbooks

What do we mean by “open”?

Open = permissions free

• Copy• Mix• Share• Keep• Edit• Use

The 5Rs: 1. Retain2. Reuse3. Revise4. Remix5. Redistribute

Also known as…

Why Open?• Facilitates the free exchange of

information.• Allows higher education to take

ownership of its content.• Empowers faculty• Sharing is scalable.

Why Textbooks?• Hits a major pain point – textbook costs• Faculty understand textbooks• Faculty know how to adopt textbooks• Faculty effort (vs. alternatives) is kept at a

minimum• Textbooks can provide content for a

complete (or nearly complete) course

What “barriers” do you hear

(or anticipate hearing) from faculty?

Barriers to Faculty Adoption• Faculty don’t know where to find open

textbooks• Faculty don’t understand the urgency of student

financial stress, and how it can impact students academically

• Faculty aren’t aware that open textbooks are an option

• Faculty don’t know what open textbooks are• Faculty confuse open textbooks with electronic

textbooks• Faculty are skeptical of the quality of open

textbooks• Faculty have limited time to engage in

reviewing open textbooks

Educ

ate

Enga

ge

They don’t know much about them.

They’re busy:• Prepping for their courses• Responding to students• Grading• Mentoring• Research• Grant writing• Committee Work• The list goes on…

http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/openingthecurriculum2014.pdf

+

+

• 351 textbooks• 52% of textbooks have been reviewed

by faculty at OTN institutions (854 reviews)

• 1M+ (!) visits from every country in the world

• Books produced at Rice University, SUNY, University of Texas at Austin, NOBA, University of Minnesota, Portland State, Grand Valley State…

351 Total Books* (Live)

    9 Accounting & Finance  47 Business, Management & Marketing  34 Computer Science & Information Systems  17 Economics    6 Engineering  31 Education  69 Humanities & Languages  43 Law  62 Mathematics & Statistics    6 Medicine   38 Natural & Physical Sciences  29 Social Sciences    8 Student Success

*February 1, 2017

What about library resources?

Library resources are not “open”, only “available” within your

institution.

What would supporting open textbook adoptions look like at

the UT Arlington?

-Open Textbook Library: email/meetings/+-Outreach to today’s participants.-Partnership with student government.-Online guides (instructors, students).-OT listserv/learning community.-Webinars/workshops (e.g. using and adapting).-Adopter profiles (articles, videos). -Mini-grants to encourage adoption-What else?

Strategies for having conversations about open textbooks

Let’s try that again! • Listen to the responses to the

questions:– What outcomes would you expect from

this interaction?– How could we change this interaction for

different results?

I hear these books aren’t any good. Is the quality the same as other textbooks?

How am I supposed to find time to adopt an open textbook?

I rely on ancillary content in my courses. Do these books have any ancillaries?

Just a few reminders

Beware of demonizing!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/post406/242630595

Try not to

overwhelm

Don’t come to me with the entire truth.Don’t bring me the ocean if I feel thirsty, nor heaven if I ask for light.

-from Olav Hauge’s “Don’t come to me with the entire truth,”

translated by Robert Bly

Respect Academic Freedom

https://www.flickr.com/photos/basykes/7131116

Leave Quality Judgment to Faculty

+

+

Let the word spread.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcoveringa/3203134555/in/photostream/

Continue to celebrate their achievements.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottdwelch/4845488575

What are your next steps?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dabinsi/3374255830

We need YOU.• You are leaders on

your campus.• You work with and

support faculty on your campus.

• You share resources, options, ideas, and tools with faculty.https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomicpasko/14139726176

Do what you already do.• Listen. • Have

conversations.• Introduce new

options. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandoncripps/3156373103/

Why?

Open textbooks can transform higher education.

• More open access publishing• A change in how we allocate

spending• Increased engagement• Improved retention• Improved completion rates• Improved pedagogy• Ownership of course content• New partnerships and

collaborative opportunitieshttps://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/7932571974

“Open education is about increasing student achievement, inspiring passion among faculty, and building better

connections between students and the materials that they use to meet their educational goals.”

– Quill West

Thank you.sfcohen@umn.edu

@thesheck ; @open_textbooksopen.umn.edu