This document summarizes the British Columbia Open Textbook Project. It discusses the project's goals of increasing access to post-secondary education by reducing student costs through the creation and adoption of open educational resources. The project has three phases: launching an initial collection of open textbooks, adapting existing open textbooks to the BC context, and creating a small number of original open textbooks. It provides examples of early textbook adoptions and cost savings for students. The overall aim is to connect expertise across BC post-secondary institutions to collaboratively develop and share open educational resources.

1. The British Columbia
Open Textbook Project
Clint Lalonde
Manager, Curriculum Services & Applied Research
CCCOER Oct 30, 2013
Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Feel free to use, modify or distribute any or all of this presentation with attribution
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2. “Connect the expertise, programs, and
resources of all BC post-secondary
institutions under a collaborative service
delivery framework”
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Curriculum Services & Applied Research
Collaborative Programs & Shared Services
Student Services & Data Exchange
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3. “Connect the expertise, programs, and
resources of all BC post-secondary
institutions under a collaborative service
delivery framework”
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Curriculum Services & Applied Research
Support & promote the development & use of Open Educational Resources
Support instructors who want to use technology in their teaching practice
OER Global Logo by Jonathas Mello is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Unported 3.0 License
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4. Online Program Development Fund (OPDF)
2003-2012
$9 million invested
153 grants awarded
100% participation across system
83% partnerships
47 credentials developed in whole or part via OPDF
355 courses, 12 workshops, 19 web sites/tools and 396
course components (learning objects, labs, textbooks,
manuals, videos)
100% open license for free & open sharing & reuse by all
BC post-secondary
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5. solr.bccampus.ca
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6. 40 free and open textbooks
available for the highest
enrolled 1st & 2nd year postsecondary subjects in BC
First province in Canada
Visual notes of John Yap announcement, Giulia Forsythe http://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/8094691691/
Used under Creative Commons attribution share-alike license
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7. We have a problem (2, actually)
Images: http://www.openeducation.net/2009/09/17/beyond-textbooks-andy-chlup-discusses-digital-learning-models/ used under CC-BY license
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8. Students spend $1200/yr on textbooks
4x rate of inflation over past 20 years
70% students have not purchased textbook for a
course because of price
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9. Free is more than just a good deal
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10. There is a direct relationship between textbook
costs and student success
60%+ do not purchase textbooks at
some point due to cost
35% take fewer courses due to
textbook cost
31% choose not to register for a
course due to textbook cost
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23% regularly go without textbooks
due to cost
14% have dropped a course due
to textbook cost
10% have withdrawn from a course
due to textbook cost
Source: 2012 student survey by Florida
Virtual Campus
Slide: CC-BY Cable Green, Creative
Commons via http://www.projectkaleidoscope.org/
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11. Image: http://markmcguire.net/2011/01/01/r-i-p-department-of-design-studies/ used under CC-BY-NC
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12. What are OER?
“Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of
educational materials that are in the public domain or
introduced with an open license. The nature of these
open materials means that anyone can legally and
freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them.”
UNESCO
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/open-educationalresources/what-are-open-educational-resources-oers/
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13. Why are we doing this project?
To increase access to higher education by reducing student costs
To give faculty more control over their instructional resources
To move the open agenda forward in a meaningful, measurable way
Images from Oxfam.org CC-BY and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Daniel_Mietchen/Talks/World_Open_Educational_Resources_Congress_2012
/How_Open_Access_and_Open_Science_can_mutually_fertilize_with_Open_Educational_Resources CC-BY
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14. open.bccampus.ca
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15. Project Phases
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Phase One: Launch (March -August 2013)
Phase Two: Adapt (Sept 2013-Sept 2014 underway)
Phase Three: Create (January 2014-Sept 2014)
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16. Image: Don’t reinvent it by Andrea Hernendez used under CC-NC-SA license
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17. Available in many formats
www, ePub, PDF and print
Small, curated collection
Locally peer
reviewed
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18. 1
Phase One: Launch (March -August 2013)
Identify Top 40 Subjects
Environmental scan of existing OTB: goal 10
BC Faculty reviews of 10 OTB
System Outreach
Early Adopter
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19. http://bccampus.ca/top-40-courses
Source: BC CDW & BC Research Institutions
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20. 1
Phase One: Launch (March -August 2013)
Example of BC reviews of
Collaborative Stats book
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21. 1
Phase One: Launch (March -August 2013)
Early Adopter: Dr. Takashi Sato Physics KPU
Students: 60
Previous Textbook: $187
OpenStax Textbook: $0
Student savings: $11,200
College Physics textbook cover image by OpenStax College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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22. 1
Phase One: Launch (March -August 2013)
Early Adopter: Dr. Takashi Sato Physics KPU
Students: 60
Previous Textbook: $187
OpenStax Textbook: $0
Student savings: $11,200
1 class 1 institution 1 term
College Physics textbook cover image by OpenStax College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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23. 2
Phase Two: Adapt (Sept 2013-Sept 2014 underway)
Adaptation Call for Proposal – 2 types: Existing & New
More textbooks (13 new)
More reviews
More outreach: Libraries & Bookstores
Technology (PoD, PressBooks, Connexions)
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24. 2
Phase Two: Adapt (Sept 2013-Sept 2014 underway)
Type 1: New
Suggest a textbook & modifications for a subject area
we have not found existing textbooks.
Anthropology
Applied Science
Commerce
Criminology
Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science
Geography
History
Kinetics/Kinesiology
Political Science
Visual Arts, Media & Design
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25. 2
Phase Two: Adapt (Sept 2013-Sept 2014 underway)
Type 2: Existing
Introduction to Psychology
The faculty who reviewed this text felt that it needed to be adapted to reflect a Canadian context, that it
required the addition of a chapter on stress, health, and coping, and an overview of all the major
psychological perspectives in the first chapter of the text. The BC Open Textbook project will fund a
subject matter expert $7500 to complete this work. Technical support and editing services will be
provided.
Introduction to Sociology
This book received a good overall rating, however the faculty who reviewed it felt that it required
adaptation to reflect a Canadian context and the insertion of content about Feminist Theory. The BC
Open Textbook project will fund a subject matter expert $7500 to complete this work. Technical support
and editing services will be provided.
Introduction to Chemistry
Reviewers of this text found it was missing content about Kinetic-Molecular Theory and
Thermodynamics. In addition it is lacking a glossary. The BC Open Textbook project will fund a subject
matter expert $5000 to add the additional content and create a glossary.
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26. 3
Phase Three: Create (January 2014-Sept 2014)
Produce as few textbooks as possible from scratch
Create 1 exemplar e-textbook
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27. Thank you!
Clint Lalonde
clalonde@bccampus.ca
@clintlalonde @bccampus
http://open.bccampus.ca
Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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