This presentation was presented at the University of Houston on February 19, 2018, on behalf of the Open Textbook Network.

1. SUPPORTING OPEN
TEXTBOOK ADOPTIONS
Michelle Reed, @LibrariansReed
Open Education Librarian, University of Texas at Arlington
@open_textbooks

2. Thank you.

3. 3

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

6. Some stats: Workshops
• 2200 faculty across ~160 workshops
• 66% of workshops have been given
by local staff
• 45% of faculty attending workshop
say they will adopt
• Student savings: over $8.5 million

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. 8

9. #textbookbroke
9

11. 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

12. $2,000
$3,000
$4,000
$5,000
$6,000
$7,000
$8,000
$9,000
$10,000
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
US Higher Education Funding - $/FTE
State Funding Tuition Revenue
http://www.sheeo.org

13. http://www.sheeo.org

14. The average borrower owes more than
$30,100
in student loans (class of 2016).
https://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data#overlay=posd/state_data/2017/tx
University of Houston: $23,665
Graduating students who have borrowed (any loan type, 2016):
51%

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

16. What can we do?
•
•
• Books and Supplies
•
•

17. 0%
100%
200%
300%
400%
500%
600%
700%
1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
%Increase
Increase in Textbook Prices
Textbooks CPI
Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics 17

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

20. 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.

21. 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
In your academic career, has the cost of
required textbooks caused you to:

22. What do you hear?
https://youtu.be/r-zi8-4NN5I

23. Our focus:
open textbooks

24. What do we mean by “open”?

25. Open = permissions  free

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

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

29. 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.

30. open.umn.edu

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

32. comprehensive
referatory*
*All the books!

33. Criteria for inclusion
openly licensed*
*That means everything, including images.
✓ 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)

34. 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)

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

38. +
+

39. 67% faculty reviewed*
*Reviews manually uploaded every six weeks.

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

41. 2 2 10 19
50
178
486
647
0
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
400
440
480
520
560
600
640
680
1.0-1.5 1.5-2.0 2.0-2.5 2.5-3.0 3.0-3.5 3.5-4.0 4.0-4.5 4.5-5.0
Reviews
Ratings
Open Textbook Reviews

42. Today, we asked University of Houston
faculty to explore a book in the open
textbook library by writing a review.

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

44. 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

45. They don’t know much about them.
Faculty are 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

46. What does and could supporting
open textbook adoptions look like
at University of Houston?

47. Low stakes
• Share resources:
– the Open Textbook Library,
– your website
– news
– research (http://openedgroup.org/)
• Reach out to today’s faculty participants
• Learn more about textbooks on your campus
– Talk to students
– Talk to faculty
• Outreach for current initiatives

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

49. High stakes
• Grant programs to encourage adoption
• OER-identified courses at registration
– Texas Senate Bill 810
• Texas Toolkit: http://libguides.uta.edu/TXtoolkit
• Common Course Team: This team leads efforts
to match OER with Texas Common Course
Numbers. Interested in joining the team? Contact
Michelle Reed.

50. When you do talk with faculty…

51. Beware
of
demonizing

52. 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

53. Respect
academic
freedom

54. Leave Quality Judgment to Faculty

55. +
+

56. If you run into a tough question…

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

58. • 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

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

61. How do I write an open textbook?

63. Let’s discuss.

64. What are your next steps?

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

66. 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.

67. Continue to celebrate achievements

68. Why?

69. Open education can
transform higher
education.

70. “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

71. Thank you.
@open_textbooks
open.umn.edu