Textbooks: Let's Look at the Options

Textbooks: Let’s Look at the Options
Todd Digby
System Director of Libraries
Minnesota State Colleges & Universities
2011

Textbooks Overview
Issues to consider
Price
Choice
Accessibility
Delivery system

Textbooks Overview
Average Textbook Prices Nationally
Source: College Board Annual Survey of Colleges, average prices for full-time, full-year students

Textbook Price Comparisons
8th Edition: PRINT: $211.25
7th Edition: PRINT: $158.50 ONLINE :$88.50
(7th Edition no longer available at campus bookstore)
8th Edition: PRINT: $152.95
7th Edition: PRINT: $142.95 ONLINE :$52.13
Semester Rental $85.71

Print Textbooks
Best Practices
Consider putting copies of books on reserve in the campus library.
Explain to students why specific textbooks are chosen for each class.
When practical, allow multiple editions to be used for a course. Faculty may need to make adjustments in reading and homework assignments to accommodate multiple editions.
If supplemental material is sold with the textbook (a practice commonly called bundling), make sure all parts of the bundle are used for the course. If all pieces are not needed, work with the bookstore to order only what is needed.
Submit textbook orders to the bookstore well in advance.

Online Textbooks
Generally less expensive than print versions which saves money for students.
Opportunities with publishers to explore existing options. Online textbooks are not what they were three years ago. So check them out.

Online Textbooks
http://www.CourseSmart.com
Online evaluation for Instructors
Kindle versions. Free software .
www.barnesandnoble.com/nookstudy

National Repository of Online Courses
http://www.hippocampus.org/myHippo/?user=myMINN
Open Course Content
Algebra
Algebra (Spanish)
American Government
Biology
Calculus
Calculus (Spanish)
Environmental Science
Physics
Psychology
Religion
Statistics
US History

MERLOT – Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
http://www.merlot.org
Open Course Content
MERLOT is a free and open online community of resources designed primarily for faculty, staff and students of higher education from around the world to share their learning materials and pedagogy. MERLOT is a leading edge, user-centered, collection of peer reviewed higher education, online learning materials.

Open Course Content
Open Educational Resources
www.oercommons.org
www.oerconsortium.org
www.collegeopentextbooks.org

Create Your Own Textbook
Use existing open source materials. (Creative Commons)
Use links to library resources.
Software is available to create materials
SoftChalk
lodeStar
Make sure you understand copyright issues.

Open Course Content
Minnesota Online Digital Exchange
digital repository for Learning Objects.
accessible through Desire2Learn.
you can contribute and share.
tinyurl.com/modemn

Open Course Content
Your Library Resources
www.sctcc.edu/current-students/student-services/library-services
Databases – links to full-text
articles and resources.
Atomic Learning tutorials

Contact me
todd.digby@so.mnscu.edu
651-649-5759
www.twitter.com/tryandig
www.digby.us

Textbooks: Let's Look at the Options

by Todd Digby

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