1. Open Textbooks
Overcoming Barriers, Realizing Opportunities
David Ernst, PhD
University of Minnesota
@dernst

3. open

4. “What are the barriers to faculty
adoption of open textbooks?”

5. open.umn.edu

6. Adoptions: 0

8. open = free + 5R permissions

9. open = free + 5R permissions

11. open = free + 5R permissions

12. State Funding Tuition Revenue
US Higher Education Funding - $/FTE
$10,000
$9,000
$8,000
$7,000
$6,000
$5,000
$4,000
$3,000
$2,000
$1,000
1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
http://www.sheeo.org
http://www.sheeo.org

13. State Funding Tuition Revenue
Georgia Higher Education Funding - $/FTE
$10,000
$9,000
$8,000
$7,000
$6,000
$5,000
$4,000
$3,000
$2,000
$1,000
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
http://www.sheeo.org

14. Affording Annual Tuition at the University of Minnesota
Hours @ Minimum Wage
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Year

15. Consumer Revolving Credit Student Loan Debt
US Debt
$ Billions
$1,300
$1,200
$1,100
$1,000
$900
$800
$700
$600
$500
$400
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Federal Reserve http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/Current/

16. The Academic Impact
• Purchase an older edition of the textbook!
•Delay purchasing the textbook!
•Never purchase the textbook

17. "I figured French hadn't changed that much.”
–U of MN Student

18. 59%!
!
of students report that they have had to wait
for their financial aid check to purchase
Unpublished Minnesota State University Student Association survey

19. Video removed
Have you ever delayed purchasing a textbook because of
cost?

20. In your academic career, has the cost of required
textbooks caused you to:
64% Not purchase the required textbook
49% Take fewer courses
45% Not register for a specific course
34% Earn a poor grade
27% Drop a course
17% Fail a course
http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf

22. Adoptions: 0

24. + +

25. 10!
faculty
+ +
2!
years
$270,000!

26. Plus…
1.5 chapters
1000 item question bank
video series
instructional changes

27. Leadership/Administration
Questions
Opportunities

28. “What about the faculty
who make a lot of
money from textbooks?
Are you getting a fight
from them.”

29. “What about revenues
from the bookstore?
Won’t we be cutting
our own income if we
do this?”

31. Video removed
What do you think about the cost of
textbooks?!

32. State Funding Tuition Revenue
Georgia Higher Education Funding - $/FTE
$10,000
$9,000
$8,000
$7,000
$6,000
$5,000
$4,000
$3,000
$2,000
$1,000
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
http://www.sheeo.org

33. "OER does not suffer
from any strong
objections or entrenched
opposition groups."
Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education. http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/oer.html

34. "When presented with the
concept of OER, most
faculty say that they are
willing to give it a try.”
Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education. http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/oer.html

35. CC BY Rocco Baldassarre

36. open.umn.edu

37. Faculty Reviews of Open Textbooks (1-5)
0" 0"
2" 1"
7"
26"
30"
25"
40"
30"
20"
10"
0"
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"
Ra0ng"

38. 300,000"
250,000"
200,000"
150,000"
100,000"
50,000"
0"
1/2012" 7/2012" 1/2013" 7/2013" 1/2014" 7/2014"
Visits"
University"of"Minnesota"Open"Textbook"Library"
Traffic"B"Total"Visits""""""""(open.umn.edu)"

39. “Are they any good?”

40. “Wikipedia isn’t
reliable, so I don’t
want a crowdsourced
book.”

41. “How can a free
textbook be any
good?”

42. CC BY-SA Chuck

43. “Won’t it take a lot
more work to adopt an
open textbook?”

46. 37%!
adoption rate of!
workshop attendees!
!
(14% - 52%)

47. Local sustainability and expansion!
of open textbook programs
Continued work with faculty!
Share local strategies!
Manage FAQ for difficult questions that could arise!
Collect and report local impact data!
!
Program credibility!
Shared network impact data!
Faculty champions!
Safety in numbers!

48. + +
+

49. In conclusion

50. Thank you!
David Ernst
dernst@umn.edu
@dernst