This document summarizes the benefits of open educational resources (OER) and open textbooks, specifically the BC Open Textbook Project. It outlines 6 key benefits of open textbooks beyond just being free: 1) faculty can customize textbooks to fit their needs, 2) textbooks can be retained and used in the future, 3) students have day 1 access to resources, 4) open textbooks may improve learning outcomes, 5) faculty can collaboratively create stronger resources, and 6) open textbooks enable authentic learning activities like contributing to online resources. The BC Open Textbook Project aims to create 40 free open textbooks for high-enrollment courses in British Columbia.

1. Beyond Free
The BC Open Textbook Project
Clint Lalonde
Manager, Open Education
COHERE October 28, 2014
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2. Open Educational Resources & Open Textbooks
Implications of textbook costs
6 benefits beyond free
The BC Open Textbook Project
Q & A

3. Connect the expertise, programs, and resources of
all BC post-secondary institutions under a
collaborative service delivery framework
1
23
Open Education & Professional Learning
Collaborative Programs & Shared Services
Student Services & Data Exchange

4. 1
Connect the expertise, programs, and resources of
all BC post-secondary institutions under a
collaborative service delivery framework
Open Education & Professional Learning
Support & promote the development & use of Open Educational Resources
Support the development of effective teaching & learning practices
OER Global Logo by Jonathas Mello is licensed under a CC-BY 30 License

5. 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
355 courses, 12 workshops, 19 web sites/tools and 396
course components (learning objects, labs, textbooks,
manuals, videos)

6. What are Open Educational Resources?
“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

7. The 5 R’s of Open
Retain • Make and own copies
Reuse • Use in a wide range of ways
Revise • Adapt, modify, and improve
Remix • Combine two or more
Redistribute • Share with others
Adapted (color change) from Open Education: A “Simple” Introduction by David Wiley released under CC-BY license

8. Creative Commons logo by Creative Commons used under a CC-BY 3.0 License
CC license image from Copyright in Education & Internet in South African Law used under CC-BY 2.5 South Africa license

9. Beyond Free Benefit #1
Faculty have full legal right to
customize & contextualize open
textbooks to fit their pedagogical
needs

10. Choices for students (and for adapters)
Old Leather books, by Wyoming_Jackrabbit used under a CC-BY-NC-SA

11. Where do they come from?

12. Okay, free & why it is important

13. Average student debt difficult to pay off, CBC, March 11, 2014
Student Debt in Canada, Canadian Federation of Students, Fall 2013

14. Textbooks are expensive
Image credit: Beyond Textbooks by Thomas used under CC-BY license

15. Students spend
$1200/yr on textbooks
3x rate of inflation in
10 years
2nd biggest
educational expense
after tuition
Source: Fixing the Broken Textbook Market U.S. PIRG
Cover image: Center for Public Interest Research used under CC-BY 4.0 license

16. Why textbook prices keep rising
Planet Money, NPR
October 3, 2014

17. 2 Year Mining Exploration Program
Term 1 (of 4)
Course Textbook Bookstore
CHEM 1105 Chemistry: The Central Science (lab manual) $215.00
MATH 1501 Basic Technical Mathematics with Calculus $186.50
MINE 1101 Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology $118.95
COMM 1135 Writing for Success $45.95
COMP 1620 New Perspectives on Computer Concepts $183.95
New Perspectives on Microsoft Excel $137.95
MINE 1100 Mineral Exploration and Mining Essentials $73.95
MINE 1107 None -
PHYS 1147 Custom book & Lab Manual $37
SURV 1145 None -
Total $999.25

18. 2 Year Mining Exploration Program
Term 1 (of 4)
Course Textbook Bookstore Amazon
CHEM 1105 Chemistry: The Central Science (lab manual) $215.00 $214.20
MATH 1501 Basic Technical Mathematics with Calculus $186.50 $140
MINE 1101 Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology $118.95 $155
COMM 1135 Writing for Success $45.95 $36.20
COMP 1620 New Perspectives on Computer Concepts $183.95 $165.25
New Perspectives on Microsoft Excel $137.95 $151.40
MINE 1100 Mineral Exploration and Mining Essentials $73.95 $89.95
MINE 1107 None - -
PHYS 1147 Custom book & Lab Manual $37 n/a
SURV 1145 None - -
Total $999.25 $952

19. How students battled textbook publishers to a draw, Planet Money, NPR, Oct 9, 2014

20. What is going on here?
How students battled textbook publishers to a draw, Planet Money, NPR, Oct 9, 2014

21. 65% students have
not purchased a
textbook for a course
during their academic
career because of
price
Source: Fixing the Broken Textbook Market U.S. PIRG
Cover image: Center for Public Interest Research used under CC-BY 4.0 license

22. Free is more than a good deal

23. Textbook Costs vs Student Success






Source: 2012 student survey by Florida Virtual Campus
60%+ do not purchase books at some point due to book cost
35% take fewer courses due to book cost
31% choose not to register for a course due to book cost
23% regularly go without textbooks due to book cost
14% have dropped a course due to book cost
10% have withdrawn from a course due to book cost
Slide: CC-BY Cable Green, Creative Commons via http://www.project-kaleidoscope.org/

24. “I had to take very few classes, because each time the price of the book more
than doubles the tuition fee. It took me much longer to get my degree.”
Marie Efira, 63
Anthropology, Foothill College
“Usually when I don’t buy it, it’s because I’ve found that you actually don’t
need it for the class.”
“My most expensive class was clinical psych, because she writes the textbook
herself, and it has a new edition every semester or something ridiculous. So it was
like almost $200. And the thing is that you can’t use the previous edition, because
she changes it herself because she knows the textbooks sell well. It’s like so
manipulative.”
Students Get Savvier about Textbook Buying,
The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 2013
Emma Anderson, 21
Political science, U. of California at Berkeley
Jennifer Bi, 20
Economics, U. of California at Berkeley

26. Source: http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/usf-student-shows-his-peers-how-to-download-textbooks-online-for-free

27. Beyond Free Benefit #2
Retain for future use

28. iPod DRM by *n3wjack's world in pixels used under CC-BY-SA license
eBook on eBook by DWRL at U Texas used under CC-BY-SA-NC license

29. Beyond Free Benefit #3
Day 1 access to resources

30. “My textbook is…
…back-ordered
…in the mail
…out of stock
…the wrong edition
…on hold until my student loan arrives
…not needed until I decide I want this course”
How often do students start the term
without the resources they need?

31. Faculty have:
Right to customize
The textbook
Students have:
Day 1 access to that
customized textbook +

32. Beyond Free Benefit #4
Improved Learning

33. “Many students attending HCC have difficulty with the cost of
college. Some students do not purchase books at all; other
students use outdated editions or non-assigned books.
In addition, the cost of textbooks may prevent students from
taking an optimal course load. A reduced course load means
more years in college and reduces the likelihood of
completion.
For these reasons, faculty were concerned that the cost of
textbooks was interfering with student success.
A faculty committee, with the support of administration,
decided to make cost a primary consideration in the textbook
adoption process.”
Source: One college’s use of an open psychology textbook, John Hilton III, Carol Laman, Open Learning: The
Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning Volume 27, Issue 3, 2012

34. “A group of six full-time and six adjunct HCC psychology faculty
members participated in the adaptation of FWK’s Introduction
to Psychology textbook.
The adaptation was necessary in order to lower the reading
level to one that the faculty felt was appropriate for HCC
students (12th grade) and to incorporate additional learning
objectives and key terms that they had identified as being
essential to the course.
Additional video links, relevant examples, and cross-cultural
information were also added to the text.”
Source: One college’s use of an open psychology textbook, John Hilton III, Carol Laman, Open Learning: The
Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning Volume 27, Issue 3, 2012

35. Spring 2011, Traditional
Textbook (n = ~370
students)
Fall 2012, open Textbook
(n = ~370 students)
GPA 1.6 2.0
Withdrawl Rate 14% 7.1%
Department Final
Exam
67.6% 71.1%
Table 1. Aggregated data, spring 2011 (traditional text) versus fall 2011 free text:
multiple campuses and instructors.
Source: One college’s use of an open psychology textbook, John Hilton III, Carol Laman, Open Learning: The
Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning Volume 27, Issue 3, 2012

36. Beyond Free Benefit #5
Opportunities for collegial
collaboration to create
stronger resources

37. Sprints
2 Days
17 Psych Faculty
6 Institutions
850 Questions

38. Sprints

39. Sprints

40. Beyond Free Benefit #6
Opportunities for Authentic
Learning Activities

41. Delmar Larsen now offers extra credit to students who
submit entries. He assigns a rating system to new
articles based on the author's expertise and
experience, with articles moving up as they are edited
and vetted.
5.5 million view per month. The most visited chemistry website in the world.
Sources: ChemWiki takes on costly textbooks UC Davis News, October 2013
UCD Hyperlink Newsletter October 2014

42. Sources: ChemWiki takes on costly textbooks UC Davis News, October 2013
UCD Hyperlink Newsletter October 2014

43. The Project

44. BC Open Textbook Project
40 free & open textbooks for highest
enrolled 1st & 2nd year post-secondary
subjects in BC
2013 – 20 for skills & training
First province in Canada
2013 – AB & SASK MOU
$1 million
2013 - $1 million
Visual notes of John Yap announcement, Giulia Forsythe Used under
CC-SA license

45. 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 improve learning outcomes for students
Annie Lennox campaigns with Oxfam at the AIDS Conference by Oxfam used under CC-BY-NC-ND license

46. The Project
Don’t reinvent it by Andrea Hernandez released under CC-BY-NC-SA and based on Wheel by Pauline Mak released
under CC-BY license

48. Faculty Reviews
291/365 by thebarrowboy used under a CC-BY

49. Reviews > Adaptations
My 291/365 by thebarrowboy used under a CC-BY Adventures Adapting a Chemistry Textbook

50. Faculty Reviews
Faculty Reviewers

51. Write Once
Publish Many

54. Outreach

55. Thank You
open.bccampus.ca
@clintlalonde @bccampus
http://www.slideshare.net/bccampus