Introductory Psychology Textbooks: The Roles of Online vs. Print and Open vs. Traditional Textbooks

Introductory Psychology Textbooks:�� The Roles of Online vs. Print and ��Open vs. Traditional Textbooks��

Dr. Farhad Dastur, Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani, Dr. Richard Le Grand, & Kurt PennerDepartment of Psychology

Kwantlen Polytechnic University

November 18th, 2015

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Tradi&onal Textbooks are Problema&c •  Costly •  Inflexible copyright •  Informa8on gets stale

Open Textbooks are a Poten&al Solu&on •  Freely available •  Permissive copyright permits users to

retain, reuse, revise, remix, & redistribute content

Our Research Ques&ons 1. Are Open Textbooks as good as Tradi8onal Textbooks in terms of student learning?

2. Does learning format—print vs. digital—make a difference?

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Our Motivation

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4

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65% decided against buying a textbook because of cost

2014 Student Public Interest Research Group Survey•  2,039 students •  156 U.S. college campuses •  33 states

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Source: http://www.studentpirgs.org/textbooks

Impact of Textbook Costs

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60%+ do not purchase textbooks

35% take fewer courses

31% choose not to register

23% regularly go without textbooks

14% dropped a course

10% withdrawn from a course

!"!"!" "!"! !"!" "!" !" "

Source: 2012 student survey by Florida Virtual Campus

Comparing the 4 Textbook Op9ons

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CRITERIA DIGITAL OPEN

PRINT OPEN TRADITIONALE-TEXTBOOK

TRADITIONAL PRINT

COST Free Low ($20 - 30)

Moderate($50 - 75)

High(+$100)

ALT COMPATABILITY

Good Poor OK - Poor Poor

PORTABILITY Excellent Poor Good Poor

UPDATES Excellent On demand At publisher’s discretion

At publisher’s discretion

LEGIBILITY Device dependent

Printer dependent

Device + platform dependent

Excellent

ALT = ASSISTIVE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY

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Sample •  N = 16,727 U.S. college students •  Four 4-‐year colleges & six community colleges

Purpose Does the adop8on of Open Digital Textbooks predict student comple8on of courses, class achievement, and enrollment during and aUer semesters in which OER were used?

Findings Where sta8s8cally significant differences between groups existed, most favoured students using OER

A multi-institutional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students Lane Fischer, John Hilton III, T. Jared Robinson, & David Wiley J Comput High Educ (2015) 27:159-172. DOI 10.1007/s12528-015-9101-x

Method •  Quantitative, quasi-experimental design with propensity-score matched groups•  15 widely ranging courses which used either OER or commercial textbooks

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.  Does textbook type—open vs. traditional—influence course performance?

2.  Does textbook format—print vs. digital—influence course performance?

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DIGITAL PRINT

OPENOpenStax1st edition2014

TRADITIONAL

Myers10th edition2013Worth Publishers

Three textbook op&ons

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DIGITAL PRINT

OPEN

OpenStax

TRADITIONAL

Myers

Three textbook op&ons

May – Aug 201583 students3 sections, 2 instructors3 hrs per week

Normal text cost11

Jan – Apr 201544 students2 sections, 2 instructorsRandomly assigned3 hrs per weekFree text

Jan – Apr 201551 students2 sections, 2 instructorsRandomly assigned3 hrs per weekFree text

Dependent Variables DV1: Performance on three Course Exams Each exam had 60 mul8ple choice ques8ons All ques(ons could be answered from textbook content

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Your mom is driving in the car with you and tells you to turn down the music. Decreasing the volume: a. lowers the decibels of the sound b. lowers the hertz of the sound c. lowers the frequency of the sound d. lowers the pitch of the sound

Check: End-‐of-‐Term Student Survey

Open Digital Open Print Tradi&onal Exam ques&ons that can be answered using the textbook

0-‐25% 26-‐50% 51-‐75% 76-‐100%

ns

DV2: End-‐of-‐Term Student Survey •  37 ques8ons of both open-‐ended and closed-‐ended format

Demographics

Textbook preferences and percep8ons Student ra8ngs of instructors Self report: student personality ra8ngs

Student Behaviour Past textbook behaviour Study habits in this course

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Dependent Variables

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Tradi8onal Open Print Open Digital Sample n = 83 n = 51 n = 44

Age no difference

Gender no difference

Ethnic Minority no difference

English First Lang no difference

Current Courses fewer

Credits Completed more

Sample Characteris8cs

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Percen

t Correct Tradi&onal

Open Print Open Digital

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General Knowledge of Psychology Pre-TestTraditional vs. Open Print vs. Open Digital

ns

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3

Percen

t Correct

Tradi&onal

Open Print

Open Digital

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Exam Performance for RL’s StudentsTraditional vs. Open Print vs. Open Digital

p < 0.05 ns ns

1 <2 hours

2 3-‐4 hours

3 5-‐6 hours

4 7-‐8 hours

5 >8 hours

How much (me per week do you devote to studying for this class? TRADITIONAL 1.91

1 0-‐20%

2 21-‐40%

3 41-‐60%

4 61-‐80%

5 81-‐100%

How much of your weekly assigned readings do you typically complete?

OPEN PRINT

OPEN DIGITAL

1.52 1.58

p < .05

TRADITIONAL 2.60 OPEN PRINT

OPEN DIGITAL

2.67 2.44

ns

Tradi&onal Open Print Open Digital

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1 <2 hours

2 3-‐4 hours

3 5-‐6 hours

4 7-‐8 hours

5 >8 hours

When studying for an exam, how much (me do you spend reading the textbook? TRADITIONAL 2.15 OPEN PRINT

OPEN DIGITAL

2.44 2.28

ns

When studying for an exam, how much (me do you spend reviewing lecture material? TRADITIONAL 2.64 OPEN PRINT

OPEN DIGITAL

1.85 2.23

1 <2 hours

2 3-‐4 hours

3 5-‐6 hours

4 7-‐8 hours

5 >8 hours


p < .05

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Print Digital Both Tradi8onal Open Print Open Digital

ns

ns

ns

If cost were NOT a factor, which textbook format would you prefer?

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Not at all 1

2

3

4

5

6

Very Much 7

Wri8ng is clear

Wri8ng is engaging

Research examples helpful

Everyday examples relevant

Everyday examples helpful

Adequate number of study aids

Helpful study aids

Note: All differences significant at p < .05

Tradi&onal Open Print Open Digital Percep(ons of the Textbook

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Not at all 1

2

3

4

5

6

Very Much 7

Figures helpful

Figures easy to understand

Tables helpful

Tables easy to understand

Photographs relevant

Visually appealing

Visually distrac8ng

NS

NS

NS

NS

NS

NS

NS

Note: No differences across condi&ons

Percep(ons of the Textbook

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1 Very Poor

2 Below Average

3 Average

4 Above Average

5 Excellent

Overall, how would you rate the quality of your textbook? TRADITIONAL 3.54 OPEN PRINT

OPEN DIGITAL

3.90 3.73

What do you think would be a fair price for your textbook?

$53.51 $49.90 $47.68

Tradi&onal: Open Print:

Open Digital: ns

Note: Tradi&onal Print costs $100+

p < .05


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•  Open textbook format (Print vs. Digital) did not impact course performance

•  Students using open textbooks performed the same as or beder than those using tradi8onal textbooks

•  A majority of students prefer a print format

•  Students rate the Open Print textbook as higher in quality than the Tradi8onal textbook

•  Students place a fair price of ~$50 for both tradi8onal and open textbooks

Summary of Results

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• Characteris8cs of the sample

• Quasi-‐experimental design

•  Impact of the instructor

•  Tradeoff between ecological validity & control •  Inves8ga8ng moderators (e.g., personal characteris8cs) and mediators (e.g., study habits)

•  Experimental research

Limitations & Future Steps

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Thank you! Dr. Farhad Dastur @fdastur [email protected]

Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani @thatpsychprof [email protected]

Dr. Richard Le Grand @rickpsyguy [email protected]

Kurt Penner @KurtPenner [email protected]

Slides available at: slideshare.net/thatpsychprof

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Education

Introductory Psychology Textbooks: The Roles of Online vs. Print and Open vs. Traditional Textbooks