“Supporting Open Textbook Adoptions” by Michelle Reed was presented at the University of Arkansas Cossatot on March 15, 2019, and is licensed CC BY. Slides are modified from Open Textbook Network slides prepared by David Ernst and Sarah Cohen. Images are individually licensed as noted.

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

3. Some stats: OTN
Systems & Consortia21 904 Institutions
Institutions78 82 Institutions
Members99 986 Institutions

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7
Community
Best Practices
- Guides
- Templates
- Expertise
Strategies
- Action-based
- Adoption
- Publishing
Shared
Solutions
- OTL
- Slides
- Data collection
Action
- Working groups
- Mailing list
- OTNSI

8. 3250 attendees
(250+ workshops)
Reviewers
Adopters
(45%)
~75% of workshops
are given by
members

9. Today, we will…
• Explore issues of affordability and their
impact on student academic success.
• Increase familiarity with open textbooks,
tools, and local open education initiatives.
• Discuss why and how you might support
open textbook initiatives.
9

10. 10

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. http://www.sheeo.org
Higher Education Funding - US

13. http://www.sheeo.org
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
Higher Education Funding - Arkansas
State Funding
Tuition Funding

14. The average borrower owes more than
$26,799
in student loans (class of 2017).
https://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data#overlay=posd/state_data/2018/ne
University of Arkansas: $26,242
Graduating students who have borrowed (any loan type, 2017):
47%

15. “Overall the study concluded
36 percent of college students
say they are food insecure.
Another 36 percent say they
are housing insecure, while 9
percent report being
homeless.”

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. 19Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics

20. The average student budgets
$1,240 – 1,440
on books and supplies in 2018 – 2019.
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. 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:

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

24. Open education can
transform higher
education.

25. Our focus:
open textbooks

26. What do we mean by “open”?

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

31. Why open?

32. Why textbooks?

33. connect educators
with open options
open.umn.edu/opentextbooks

34. open.umn.edu

35. comprehensive
referatory*
*All the books!

36. 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)

37. 13 Accounting & Finance
57 Business
62 Computer Science & Information Systems
19 Economics
38 Education
21 Engineering
117 Humanities
16 Journalism, Media Studies & Communications
55 Law
81 Mathematics
9 Medicine
55 Natural Sciences
49 Social Sciences
14 Student Success
572 Total Books (a book may be included in multiple subject areas)

38. https://twitter.com/open_textbooks/status/1095714759746506753

39. Where do the books come from?
• Funded initiatives
• Independent authors
• Discipline collectives
• Library publishers

41. Today, we asked educators to
explore a book
in the open textbook library
by writing a review.

42. +
+

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

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

46. 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

47. We don’t know what we don’t know
We all have limited time:
• 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

48. What does and could supporting
open textbook adoptions look like
at the University of Arkansas
Cossatot ?

49. 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

50. +
+

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

59. Local
Data
Peer to
Peer

64. “It isn’t just affordable –
it’s affordable, and it’s
just as good a book.”

68. High stakes
• Grant programs (university, system,
state, or federal)
• OER pathways, Z-Degree programs
• OER-identified courses at registration
• Publishing open textbooks
• Hosting creation sprints

70. https://youtu.be/jRjTRza_I18

75. “The textbook given to us this semester was absolutely
amazing. It gave all the information we needed very clearly
and made it interesting to learn with the modern examples and
cool extra facts about France obtaining to our lesson.”
“Madame Soueid is awesome and she wrote a really engaging
and fun french book!”
“The book provided for the course was very helpful and well
written. Because it was very specific for the class, the book
was extremely useful.”

76. “It is awesome and cost effective for students who have limited income and it is a
great program which should be supported and highlighted in the college
mainstream.”
“Very great resources and relevant to course. Low cost materials helped focus
more on learning rather than worrying about how to pay for the education coming
from different resources that may cost money, which helped the grade overall.”
“I am very delighted that UTA is moving towards free or reduced-cost textbooks
that are online. I am a low-income student and these resources help me greatly.”

80. “I would like to know why
not all the subjects offer
free or reduced books.”

82. A few things to keep in mind…

83. Beware
of
demonizing

84. 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

85. Respect
academic
freedom

86. Leave Quality Judgment to Faculty

87. OTN Resources

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

89. • 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

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

92. How do I write an open textbook?

94. What are
your next
steps?

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

97. 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

99. Celebrate achievements

100. Celebrate achievements

102. What are
your next
steps?

103. “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

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