1. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Open Textbooks and
Solving the Textbook
Cost Crisis
Nicole Allen
OER Program Director, SPARC
Joint Mathematics Meetings
January 17, 2014 Baltimore, MD
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

2. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

3. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
7 in 10
Graduating seniors had
student debt
(class of 2012)
http://projectonstudentdebt.org
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

4. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
$29,400
Average undergraduate
student debt at graduation
(class of 2012)
http://projectonstudentdebt.org
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

5. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
$1,207
Average student budget for
books and supplies for 20132014 year
http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-estimatedundergraduate-budgets-2013-14
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

6. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
82%
Increase of textbook prices
2002-2012
(3x the rate of inflation)
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-368
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

7. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
$8.8 billion
Annual size of the US higher
education textbook market
http://info.xplana.com/report/pdf/Xplana_Whitepaper_2011.pdf
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

8. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
“Broken Market”
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

9. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

10. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

11. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
How Students Save
% Student Savings Over New Print Text
E-Readers
39%
E-Books
52%
Rentals
Used Books
61%
25%
http://www.studentpirgs.org/reports/cover-cover-solution
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

12. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
2 in 5
Students report they have
shared books with classmates
to reduce costs
http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2010_fsts_report_01sep2011.pdf
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

13. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
1 in 3
Students report downloading
course material from an
unauthorized website
(up from 1 in 5 in 2010)
http://www.bisg.org/news-5-847-press-release-now-available-student-attitudestoward-content-in-higher-education-volume-3.php
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

14. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
7 in 10
Undergraduates skipped
buying one or more texts due
to cost
http://www.studentpirgs.org/news/ap/high-prices-prevent-college-students-buyingassigned-textbooks
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

15. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
1 in 3
Students say at some point
they earned a poor grade
because they could not afford
to buy the textbook
http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

16. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
1 in 3
Students say at some point
they earned a poor grade
because they could not afford
to buy the textbook
http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

17. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
1 in 2
Students say they have at
some point taken fewer
courses due to the cost of
textbooks
http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

18. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Students can’t learn
from textbooks if
they can’t afford
them
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

19. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
OPEN TEXTBOOKS
Free (usually
online)
Open (open
license)
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

20. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
OPEN
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES (OER)
Academic materials that
everyone can use, adapt
and share freely.
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

21. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
80% / ~$100
Students savings per course
when open textbooks used in
place of traditional
http://www.studentpirgs.org/reports/cover-cover-solution
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

22. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Studies show that the use of
open textbooks is correlated with
higher grades and retention rates
http://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&article=533
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1523
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

23. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
~$100M
Students savings worldwide to
date from the use of OER
instead of traditional materials
http://openeducation2013.sched.org/event/90d9e1c479a944181f771f720ef967db
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

24. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
~100-200
”Professional grade” open
textbooks available for
common college courses
http://openeducation2013.sched.org/event/90d9e1c479a944181f771f720ef967db
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

25. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Open Textbook Catalog
Open Textbook Catalog
In an effort to reduce costs for students, the College of Education and Human
Development has created this catalog of open textbooks to be reviewed by faculty
members. Read full press release
Open textbooks are complete textbooks released under a Creative Commons, or
similar, license.
In an effort to reduce costs for students, the College of Education and Human
Instructors can customize open textbooks to fit their course needs by
Development has created this their own content. Students can reviewed by digital
remixing, editing, and adding catalog of open textbooks to be access free
faculty members. or purchase low-cost print copies of open textbooks.
versions
http://open.umn.edu/
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

26. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
What Needs to Happen
• More “turn key” open textbooks: create new
and improve existing
• More support for adoption: professional
development, time buyouts…
• More awareness: most people don’t know
what open textbooks are, we need to change
that
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

27. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
What You Can Do
• Faculty: the lynchpin, as both authors and
assigners of textbooks
• Students: the most effective advocates to
raise awareness of the problem
• Libraries: support for curation, creation and
adoption
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

28. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
What You Can Do
• Publishers: transition to open models and
avoid bad practices
• Institutions: leveraging OER to increase
outcomes, competitiveness
• Lawmakers: policies that support (but never
mandate) the creation and use of OER
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

29. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Open textbooks can
happen, but we need
to make them
happen
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org

30. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
www.sparc.arl.org
Nicole Allen
nicole@sparc.arl.org
Twitter: @txtbks
http://sparc.arl.org/issues
/oer
Open Educational Resources Program
nicole@sparc.arl.org