1. Open Textbooks beyond the USA: Results of
the UK Open Textbook Project Pilot
#OpenEd18, Niagara Falls, USA
11 October 2018
Beck Pitt (OU), Rob Farrow (OU), Bea de los Arcos (OU), Viv Rolfe (Pukka Herbs/UWE),
David Kernohan (WonkHE), Dani Nicholson (OpenStax), David Ernst (Open Textbook
Network) and Martin Weller (OU)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

2. ukopentextbooks.org
Collaborating to
raise awareness of
open textbooks

3. Flat World Knowledge: Open College Textbooks via opensource.com is licensed CC BY-SA

4. UK nationalstatistics
6.2%
of students aged
21 or under
dropped out after
the 1st year of
their University
studies in 2014-
15
£9K +
Tuition fees
now exceed
£9K per
academic
year in most
institutions
£100 billion
student loan debt in
the UK is now more
than £100 billion
and students
graduate with an
average of £50.8K
debt
81%
of UK students
surveyed in 2012
would like
textbooks to be
provided for free
by their institution
£1K
Average cost
of books and
equipment
per
academic
year

5. ByUKPhoenix79(Image:BritishIslesUnitedKingdom.svg)[GFDL(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)or
CCBY-SA3.0(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],viaWikimediaCommons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uk_map_wales_green.png
The UK Context
Screenshot from UCAS: https://www.ucas.com/finance/undergraduate-tuition-
fees-and-student-loans

6. OpenStaximpact
3.4 mil
students have
used OpenStax
textbooks since 2012
$342 mil
OpenStax textbooks
have saved students
a total of $332 million
since 2012
4,200
institutions
have adopted
OpenStax textbooks
since 2012
29
OpenStax has
published 29 textbooks
since 2012

7. • 600 + institutions
• $8.5 million student savings
• 460 open textbooks
• 60% of the Library’s textbooks have at least
one review
• 45% of educators participating in a
workshop adopt an open textbook from
the Open Textbook Library

8. Picture credit: Teaching Open Source Practices, version 4.0 by opensource.com is licensed CC BY-SA

9. 7 high impact
practitioner
events across the
UK;
Focus on
showcasing STEM
OpenStax
textbooks;
85 verified sign-
ups.

10. 14 workshops at 8
institutions;
Staff from 19
universities;
Over 100 staff participated with 43 in
academic roles.

11. • UK Open Textbook activity
contributed in whole or part to
9 known adoptions
• 24 additional UK sign-ups over
course of project
• Upsurge of UK interest in
OpenStax
Outcomes: OpenStax
Interest and Adoptions (as at 3 October 2018)

12. “I’m an FE lecturer in physics and the FE industry has
been hit rather hard by government cuts and we have
no money.
My head of department has told me that I can’t have
any textbooks for the classroom unless I source them
myself and then attempt to claim the money back.
Which is less than ideal because I may not get my
money back and sourcing textbooks is a very expensive
thing, so I’m not prepared to do that.” (1/2)
Case study: Further Education
Picturecredit:MoneybyPeterislicensedCCBY-SA2.0

13. “…The OpenStax [textbooks] can really
help with that so that’s interesting.
I’m going to try to edit the books
together to make them more relevant for
my course, and then send them off to
the reprographics department in my
college and get them printed there.
I can also potentially make them digitally
available to the students.” (2/2)
Mrs Bell, FE Lecturer, 4 Jan 2018 (ASE)
http://ukopentextbooks.org/uk-open-textbooks/ase-2018-liverpool-3-6-january-2018/

14. Outcomes: Open Textbook Network
35 out of 105 participants completed an incentivised review (33.3%)
20 out of 49 surveyed participants intended to adopt an open textbook
Picturecredit:Whyincentivesdon’tworkineducation…viaopensource.comislicensedCCBY-SA
All 13 academics said they would
either adopt or might adopt an
open textbook

15. “Two of the Anatomy and Physiology open texts will be introduced as part of the
students' recommended module reading lists (with links to the URLs) or via the
University Library. I expect that this will have a big impact, firstly on student savings due
to the absence of costs associated with "Open Textbooks". Secondly, I expect that the
books will impact on the students' learning experiences, due to the interactive nature of
the text books.”
(’Yes’ to adoption, post-survey respondent)
“I would very much like to adopt one, but I will need to first ensure that any book is fit
for purpose.”
(‘Maybe’ to adoption, post-survey respondent)
“I would say it is my role to encourage my colleagues to do this and this I'm very happy
to do so.”
(‘No’ to adoption, post-survey respondent)

16. “It has made me think more about the importance of open textbooks. How I can
sign post my students to utilise the open textbook directory, and how I may
contribute towards this (e.g. submitting a book) in the future.”
Workshop Participant (Glasgow Caledonian University. Via Interview)
“We are currently all writing module descriptors for our new course validation
and guess what? They all have Open Access Texts in the reading lists... I have also
had a meeting with the student union rep for the business school recently and
explained the Open Access texts. So I have a feeling we will be driving our
students much more towards their usage in the next academic year...”
Workshop Participant (Senior Lecturer, Business, Management & Marketing,
Staffordshire University. Via Email)
Outcomes: Open Textbook Network

17. Picturecredit:IslicensingreallythemostimportantquestionforOER?Viaopensource.comislicensedCCBY-SA

18. • Very positive response to both showcasing hardcopy OpenStax
materials and carrying out Open Textbook Network workshops at
HEIs.
• Opportunity to engage with educators, librarians and other
colleagues re: textbooks, OER and issues in education.
• Tendency to foreground of reuseability (open licensing) in
discussions.
• High levels of interest in variety of activities, e.g. creating textbooks
at own institution, sharing with colleagues etc. High levels of
demand and interest in co-creation of content, senior level support
for textbooks, sharing of material etc.
• Long to medium term impacts need to be assessed.
Outcomes

19. • National level research into student experiences and what impacts,
if any, textbook cost is having on their studies.
• More research on how textbooks are being used by educators in
different regions, with different funding and tuition costs, is
required.
• Potential for developing open textbooks for specialised subjects or
in languages such as Welsh.
• Need to develop informed country specific arguments for open
textbooks (access, customisable content and institutional savings
rather than student savings, for example).
Possible Next Steps/Recommendations

20. Thank you!

21. Beck Pitt
Beck.Pitt@open.ac.uk
@BeckPitt
Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/BeckPitt
UK Open Textbook Project: http://ukopentextbooks.org
@UKOpenTextbooks
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.