1. SUPPORTING OPEN TEXTBOOK ADOPTIONS
Camille Thomas
Scholarly Publishing Librarian
Texas Tech University
Content adapted from Michelle Reed and OTN

2. Thank you.
Thank you for joinng and taking time out of your day

3. 3

4. Some stats: OTN 78 members representing 635 institutions
300+ staff trained

5. Federal Initiatives
$5 Million Open Textbook Pilot Grant Program in FY18 Omnibus Appropriation
March 23, 2018 passed by Congress
Funding for a pilot open textbook grant program
Administered by the U.S. Dept of Education
Supports projects at institutions of higher education that creates or expands the use of open textbooks to achieve savings for students.

6. Nearly half of all states have considered OER legislation
Exemplary Legislation has been passed in the following states:
California, Georgia, Maryland, New York, and now, Texas

7. Today, we will:
Explore issues of affordability and their impact on student academic success.
Increase familiarity with open textbooks, OE tools, and local OE initiatives,
Discuss why and how you might support open textbook initiatives. 7

8. Usually people get involved or interested in open education because they are student-centered
Early adopters, innovators---later adopters and laggers 8

9. #textbookbroke
Sharing stories, great place to find examples 9

12. 2.4 million The cost barrier kept
low and moderate-income college-qualified high school
graduates from completing college in the previous decade.
The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance

13. US Higher Education Funding - $/FTE
$10,000
$9,000
$8,000
$7,000
$6,000
$5,000
$4,000
$3,000
$2,000
State Funding Tuition Revenue

15. The average borrower owes more than $30,100
in student loans (class of 2016).
Texas Tech: $29,214
Graduating students who have borrowed (any loan type, 2016): 55%

16. What can we do? Tuition and Fees Room and Board Books and Supplies
Personal Expenses
Transportation

17. What can we do? •
Books and Supplies

18. Increase in Textbook Prices
700%
600%
500%
400%
300%
200%
100% 0%
% Increase
Textbooks CPI
Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics 17

20. $1,230 – $1,390 The average student budgets
on course materials in 2016 – 2017.
Source: College Board

21. Coping with the Cost Purchase an older edition of the textbook.
Delay purchasing the textbook.
Never purchase the textbook.
Share a textbook.
Download a textbook from the web.

22. In your academic career, has the cost of required textbooks caused you to:
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 grade
26.7%
26.1%
Drop a course
17.0%
19.8%
Fail a course

23. TTU Students Opted to
Never purchased req. textbook
78%
Tailor schedule to share with friends
50%
Part-time/ Full time jobs
42%
Earned a poor grade
40%
Withdrew
11%
Didn’t register for course
15%
Taken fewer courses
17%

24. With Open Textbooks:
Students enroll in significantly higher number of credits per semester, meaning more progress toward graduation.
(Hilton, Robinson, Wiley, and Ackerman 2014; Hilton and Laman 2012; Fischer et. al. 2015).

25. Final examination scores
Improved
Grade point average
Withdrawal rate
Final examination scores
(Hilton and Laman 2012; Wiley, Williams, Hilton, DeMarte 2016

26. Students with Disabilities are able to get materials sooner and in formats compliant with ADA.

27. Our focus: open textbooks

28. What do we mean by “open”?

29. Open = permissions  free

31. open = free + permissions
copy share edit
mix keep use

32. Why Open? Facilitates the free exchange of information.
Allows higher education to take ownership of its content.
Empowers faculty.
Sharing is scalable.

33. 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.

34. open.umn.edu

35. connect faculty with open options
open.umn.edu/opentextbooks

36. comprehensive referatory*
*All the books!

37. Criteria for inclusion openly licensed*
Portable file
Complete textbook
Institutional or scholarly society affiliation, or in use in more than one location
Original (unless it’s a major overhaul for a new audience)
*That means everything, including images.

38. 11 Accounting & Finance
52 Business
43 Computer Science & Information Systems
17 Economics
31 Education
9 Engineering
93 Humanities
11 Journalism, Media Studies & Communications
50 Law
72 Mathematics
7 Medicine
46 Natural Sciences
38 Social Sciences
12 Student Success
433 Total Books (a book may be included in multiple subject areas)

39. Where do the books come from?
Funded initiatives
Independent authors
Discipline collectives
Other places

42. +

43. 67% faculty reviewed*
*Reviews manually uploaded every six weeks.

44. Open Textbook Review Criteria
Comprehensiveness
Content Accuracy
Relevance Longevity
Clarity
Consistency
Modularity
Organization Structure Flow
Interface
Grammatical Errors
Cultural Relevance

45. 680
640
600
560
520
480
440
400
360
320
280
240
200
160
120 80 40
647
Open Textbook Reviews
486
Reviews
178 50 2 2 10 19
Ratings

46. Today, we ask Angelo State faculty to explore a book in the open textbook library by writing a review.

47. What “barriers” do you hear (or anticipate hearing) from faculty?

48. Common deterrents to adopting OER:
-No comprehensive catalog.
-Too hard to find what I need.
-Not enough resources for my subject.
-Not knowing if I have permission to use or change.
-Not relevant to my local context.
Babson Survey Research Group, 2014

49. They don’t know much about them.
Faculty are busy:
Prepping for their
courses
Responding to students
Grading
Mentoring
Research
Grant writing
Committee Work
goes on/…2014.pdf

50. What does and could supporting open textbook adoptions look like at Angelo State?

51. Low stakes Share resources: Reach out to today’s faculty participants
the Open Textbook Library,
Mason Metafinder
your website ( )
news
research (
Reach out to today’s faculty participants
Learn more about textbooks on your campus
Talk to students
Talk to faculty
Outreach for current initiatives

52. A bit higher Student survey Student videos
Partnerships: Center for Teaching and Learning + Educational Services
OT listserv/learning community
Adopter awards, profiles, panels

53. High stakes Grant programs to encourage adoption
OER-identified courses at registration
Texas Senate Bill 810

54. Strong definition of OER OER Grant program
TEXAS SB 810 (2017)
Strong definition of OER
OER Grant program
Courses marked in course schedule
Study for OER state repository

55. When you do talk with faculty…

56. Beware of
demonizing
TTU Faculty Senate

57. 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
Try not to
overwhelm

58. Respect academic freedom

59. Leave Quality Judgment to Faculty

60. If you run into a tough question…

61. Are open textbooks effective? How can we know?

62. Based on the COUP Framework
Cost Outcomes Use Perceptions
Designed to support all level of inquiry and research
Includes:
Best Practices
Workflows
Decision making guidelines
Documentation

63. How can I edit a textbook from the open textbook library?

66. How do I write an open textbook?

68. Let’s discuss.

69. What are your next steps?

70. Do what you already do. Listen. Have conversations.
Introduce new options.

71. 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.

72. Continue to celebrate achievements

73. Why?

74. Open education can transform higher education.
Changes to k-12, internationally and funding allocations, legislation

75. Important to think about what motivates you and faculty

76. “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
West & Jensen, 2015

77. Thank you.