A summary of research in progress into the experiences of International Students using Open textbooks at Langara College.

1. International Student Engagement
with Open Textbooks
A Canadian Perspective
Lindsay Tripp
Copyright Librarian
Langara College
@lltripp
Julian Prior
Educational Technology Advisor
Langara College
@jpodcaster

2. Session Aims
1. Setting the scene
2. Open at Langara
3. Research in progress
4. Preliminary themes
5. Questions/Discussion

3. Langara College

4. International Students
2014 – 14% 2017 – 37%

5. http://vancouversun.com/feature/how-international-students-are-filling-funding-shortfalls

6. Open@Langara
• 3rd biggest adopter of Open
Textbooks in B.C.
• Saved students $350,000+
since 2013
• Open Langara (Advisory
Committee) est. 2016:
– EdTech/Library
– Student Services
– Financial Aid
– Bookstore
– Disability Services
– Deans
– Faculty
– Student Union

7. Open@Langara
The Open Education Advisory Committee (Open Langara) will bring
together interested parties from across campus to cultivate in-house
expertise, network with the open education community, and steer the
College’s participation in the open movement. Open Langara will
advocate for low-barrier post-secondary education by supporting the
adoption of open educational resources (OER), open textbooks, and
open access at Langara.

8. open.bccampus.ca
Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC-BY. 4.0 International.
Feel free to use, modify or distribute any or all of this presentation with attribution.
BC Open Textbook Project
40 free & open textbooks for highest
enrolled 1st & 2nd year post-secondary
subjects in BC
2014 – 20 for skills & training
First province in Canada
2014 – AB & SASK MOU
$1 million
2014 - $1 million
Visual notes of John Yap announcement, Giulia Forsythe Used under
CC-SA license

9. Video Interview with Robin MacQueen Division Chair, Health Sciences

10. Why the Research focus?
1. Demand for library reserves
2. Lack of data on International
Students and OER
3. Experiences/Narratives
4. Demystifying Int. students
5. Canadian perspective

11. Research Design
10 International Students
who have used OTs
recruited through social
media and in-class
SAMPLE
Online Survey –
demographic and
educational context
PART 1
Semi-structured
interviews (45-60 mins)
PART 2
Research Questions:
1. How does using open
textbooks impact
academic success (as
defined by students)?
2. What do students
perceive to be the
strengths and
weaknesses of open
textbooks?
3. How does the cost of
textbooks impact the
student experience in
the home country
compared to Canada?

12. Preliminary Themes
1. Student expectations re:
quality of Open Textbooks.
2. Broad definition of
academic success.
3. Cost to student of textbook
is key factor in determining
academic success.

13. Next Steps?
• Completion of pilot phase
• Longer term: comparison with
domestic students? Comparison
with int. students not using open
textbooks?
• Longitudinal research focusing
on academic success?
• Student re-purposing of open
textbooks?
“Future research should continue to investigate the perceptions, use, and impact of
open textbooks and other OER outside of the U.S. postsecondary context and
especially to attempt to replicate evidence of the disproportionate impact of high
textbook costs on economically disadvantaged students.”
Jhangiani and Jhangiani, 2017

14. Images, tables and graphs on slides 1-4, 7, 10, 13 are © Langara College
Image on slide 12 by Nemichandra Hombannavar on Unsplash
We would like to thank the following for their guidance and support
during this research:
• Sarah Bowers (Chair, Educational Technology, Langara College)
• Karen Budra (Instructor, Sociology, Langara College)
• Gagun Chhina (Instructor, Sociology, Langara College)
• Patricia Cia (Director, Academic Innovation, Langara College)
• Rajiv Jhangiani (Senior Open Education Research and Advocacy Fellow,
BCcampus)
• Rosario Passos (Instructional Development Consultant, BCIT)
• The BCcampus Open Textbook Team
• The Research Ethics Board (Langara College)
Acknowledgements and Thanks