A short presentation about research we conducted looking at faculty reports of their and students' experiences with using open textbooks in college and university courses. This research was funded by an OER Research Fellowship from the Open Education Group, which received funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. This presentation was part of a larger group presentation by OER Research Fellows at the Open Education Conference in Richmond, Virginia, Nov. 2-4, 2016. These slides are only from the short presentation given by Christina Hendricks and Ozgur Ozdemir in that larger group presentation.

1. INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENT
EXPERIENCES WITH OPEN TEXTBOOKS,
FROM THE CALIFORNIA OPEN ONLINE
LIBRARY FOR EDUCATION (COOL4ED)
Christina Hendricks – University of British
Columbia-Vancouver
Ozgur Ozdemir – Indiana University
Open Education Conference, Nov. 2016
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2. California Community Colleges
California State University
University of California
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http://coolfored.org/

3. Research Questions
• Faculty motivations for adopting OT or other OER
• Cost savings for students
• Student perceptions/attitudes (as reported by
faculty)
• Impact on student learning and retention
• Other benefits and drawbacks
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4. Methods
Data
collection
51 Faculty ePortfolios
• About the (1) book, (2) course,
(3) open textbook adoption,
and (4) faculty bio
• 30 Postsecondary Institutions
• 7 Disciplinary Areas
Data analysis
Content Analysis
• Open Coding
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5. Findings: RQ1
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Note: N=51
80%
44%
24%
20%
COST SAVING CONTENT REPURPOSING ACCESSIBILITY
MOTIVATING FACTORS

6. Findings: RQ2
• Typical costs for new textbooks
reported by faculty: $50 to over
$275 per book, average $140
• 32 faculty members reported
how many students teach/year
• Estimated total cost savings:
$706,740 per year, for 5733
students ($123/student)
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#textbookbrokebc image, by
UBC undergraduate student
society

7. Findings: RQ3
Note: N=40
97%
43%
40%
0%
15%
0%
COST SAVING CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY
STUDENTS ATTITUDE
Positive Attitude Negative Attitude
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8. Findings: RQ4
Note: N=51
39%
16%
0
45%
16%
12%
0
72%
YES, IMPROVED STAYED THE SAME DECLINED NOT
ASSESSED/UNSURE
LEARNING & RETENTION
Student Learning Improved? Student Retention Improved?
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9. Findings: RQ5
Note: N=51
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61%
86%
14%
39%
14%
86%
COLLABORATED MORE
WITH OTHER FACULTY?
USED WIDER RANGE OF
MATERIALS?
DRAWBACKS OF USING
OER?
OTHER BENEFITS OR FRAWBACKS
Yes No

10. Some conclusions
• Cost savings: most prominent concern for faculty (80%)
& students (93% of those that reported student views)
• Content: only 4% of portfolios showed negative views by
faculty, 12% by students
• Adaptability: noted as important on 40% of portfolios
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