Workshop for staff at University of Texas, Arlington who will interface with faculty as they explore, and ideally adopt, open textbooks.

1. Supporting Open Textbook
Adoptions
Sarah Faye Cohen
University of Texas, Arlington
February 10, 2017

2. Thank you.

4. Today, we will:
• Explore issues of affordability and their
impact on student academic success;
• Identify barriers to adoption of open
textbooks and practice how you might help
overcome those barriers;
• Discuss why and how you might support
open textbook initiatives.

5. Why are we really here?

6. #textbookbroke

7. #textbookbroke

9. $2,000
$3,000
$4,000
$5,000
$6,000
$7,000
$8,000
$9,000
$10,000
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
US Higher Education Funding - $/FTE
State Funding Tuition Revenue
http://www.sheeo.org

10. $0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
$5,000
$6,000
$7,000
$8,000
$9,000
$10,000
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
Texas Higher Education Funding - $/FTE
State Funding Tuition Revenue
http://www.sheeo.org

11. 0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Hours@MinimumWage
Affording Annual Tuition at the University of Minnesota

12. The average borrower owes more than
$26,250
in student loans (class of 2014).
Institute for College Access and Success
http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/Student_Debt_and_the_Class_of_2012_NR.pdf
http://ticas.org/posd/map-state-data-2015
Texas =
$27,324

13. Cost of Attendance
• Tuition and Fees
• Room and Board
• Books and Supplies
• Personal Expenses
• Transportation

14. Cost of Attendance
• Tuition and Fees
• Room and Board
• Books and Supplies
• Personal Expenses
• Transportation

15. 0%
100%
200%
300%
400%
500%
600%
700%
1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
%Increase Increase in Textbook Prices
Textbooks CPI
Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/cpi/

17. The average student budgets
$1,230 - $1,390
on textbooks and course materials in 2016-
17.
http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-estimated-undergraduate-budgets-2015-16
University of Texas, Arlington = $1,206

18. Coping
with the
Cost
• Purchase an older edition of
the textbook
• Delay purchasing the
textbook
• Never purchase the textbook
• Share a textbook
• Pirate a textbook
“I figured French
hadn’t changed
that much.”
- UMN student

19. 2012 2016
63.6% 66.5%
Not purchase the required
textbook
49.2% 47.6% Take fewer courses
45.1% 45.5% Not register for a specific course
33.9% 37.6% Earn a poor grade
26.7% 26.1% Drop a course
17.0% 19.8% Fail a course
In your academic career, has the cost of
required textbooks caused you to:

20. Our focus:
Open Textbooks

21. What do we mean by “open”?

22. Open = permissions  free

24. • Copy
• Mix
• Share
• Keep
• Edit
• Use
The 5Rs:
1. Retain
2. Reuse
3. Revise
4. Remix
5. Redistribute
Also known
as…

25. Why Open?
• Facilitates the free exchange of
information.
• Allows higher education to take ownership
of its content.
• Empowers faculty
• Sharing is scalable.

26. Why Textbooks?
• Hits a major pain point – textbook costs
• Faculty understand textbooks
• Faculty know how to adopt textbooks
• Faculty effort (vs. alternatives) is kept at a
minimum
• Textbooks can provide content for a
complete (or nearly complete) course

28. What “barriers” do you hear
(or anticipate hearing)
from faculty?

30. Barriers to Faculty Adoption
• Faculty don’t know where to find open textbooks
• Faculty don’t understand the urgency of student
financial stress, and how it can impact students
academically
• Faculty aren’t aware that open textbooks are an option
• Faculty don’t know what open textbooks are
• Faculty confuse open textbooks with electronic
textbooks
• Faculty are skeptical of the quality of open textbooks
• Faculty have limited time to engage in reviewing open
EducateEngage

31. They don’t know much about them.
They’re busy:
• Prepping for their
courses
• Responding to students
• Grading
• Mentoring
• Research
• Grant writing
• Committee Work
• The list goes on…
http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/openingthecurriculum2014.pdf

32. +
+

34. • 351 textbooks
• 52% of textbooks have been reviewed by
faculty at OTN institutions (854 reviews)
• 1M+ (!) visits from every country in the world
• Books produced at Rice University, SUNY,
University of Texas at Austin, NOBA,
University of Minnesota, Portland State,
Grand Valley State…

36. 351 Total Books* (Live)
9 Accounting & Finance
47 Business, Management & Marketing
34 Computer Science & Information Systems
17 Economics
6 Engineering
31 Education
69 Humanities & Languages
43 Law
62 Mathematics & Statistics
6 Medicine
38 Natural & Physical Sciences
29 Social Sciences
8 Student Success
*February 1, 2017

40. What about library
resources?

42. Library resources are not “open”, only
“available” within your institution.

43. What would supporting open
textbook adoptions look like at
the UT Arlington?

44. -Open Textbook Library: email/meetings/+
-Outreach to today’s participants.
-Partnership with student government.
-Online guides (instructors, students).
-OT listserv/learning community.
-Webinars/workshops (e.g. using and adapting).
-Adopter profiles (articles, videos).
-Mini-grants to encourage adoption
-What else?

45. Strategies for having
conversations about open
textbooks

46. Let’s try that again!
• Listen to the responses to the questions:
– What outcomes would you expect from this
interaction?
– How could we change this interaction for
different results?

47. I hear these books aren’t any
good. Is the quality the same as
other textbooks?

48. How am I supposed to find time
to adopt an open textbook?

49. I rely on ancillary content in my
courses. Do these books have
any ancillaries?

50. Just a few
reminders

51. Beware of
demonizing!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/post406/242630595

52. Try
not to
overwhelm
Don’t come to me with the
entire truth.
Don’t bring me the ocean if I
feel thirsty, nor heaven if I ask
for light.
-from Olav Hauge’s
“Don’t come to me with the entire truth,”
translated by Robert Bly

53. Respect Academic Freedom
https://www.flickr.com/photos/basykes/7131116

54. Leave Quality Judgment to Faculty

55. +
+

56. Let the word spread.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcoveringa/3203134555/in/photostream/

57. Continue to celebrate their
achievements.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottdwelch/4845488575

58. What are your next steps?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dabinsi/3374255830

59. We need YOU.
• You are leaders on
your campus.
• You work with and
support faculty on
your campus.
• You share resources,
options, ideas, and
tools with faculty.https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomicpasko/14139726176

60. Do what you already do.
• Listen.
• Have conversations.
• Introduce new
options.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandoncripps/3156373103/

61. Why?

62. Open textbooks can transform higher
education.
• More open access
publishing
• A change in how we
allocate spending
• Increased engagement
• Improved retention
• Improved completion rates
• Improved pedagogy
• Ownership of course
content
• New partnerships and
collaborative opportunitieshttps://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/7932571974

64. “Open education is about increasing student
achievement, inspiring passion among
faculty, and building better connections
between students and the materials that they
use to meet their educational goals.”
– Quill West

65. Thank you.
sfcohen@umn.edu
@thesheck ; @open_textbooks
open.umn.edu