Geoff CainCollege of the Redwoods

www.studentpirgs.org/open-textbooks

Godin, Seth. (2010) “The Coming Melt-Down in Higher Education (as seen by a marketer)http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Prices rising

2xthe rate ofinflation

Students average

$750 - $900per year on textbooks

Part 1: Flawed market structure gives publishers too much

powerPublisher

Student Professor

Part 2:Self-destructive business model drives unstable model

Students

Bookstore

Publisher

Each textbook is bought and sold several times, but the publisher only profits on the first sale

used books

$238.95only

High Price

s

New Editions new 6th

$213.95

used 5th edition$81.78

Costly Bundles

$213.95

with CengageNOW, Personal Tutor with SMARTHINKING, InfoTrac 2-Semester Printed Access Card

Biology, 8e

Who Pays for Textbooks?• Students• Parents• EOPS• Board of Gov.• Financial Aide

The solution must:1. Utilize open, non-commercial licenses• Texts must be easily editable• Come from the academic community• Include peer-review and editing• Provide free options for students• Create a useable, accessible repository• Utilize an efficient distribution and print-on-demand system

Redefine the model and the “text.”

What makes a textbook

open?

An “Open Text” is free of copyright constraints.

• Public Domain • Creative Commmons

o Attribution (by) o Share Alike (sa) o Non-Commercial (nc)o No Derivative Works (nd)

Open licenses legally grant the right to:• Make copies and change formats• Distribute copies• Create customized versions

A good way to think about open licenses:

© Some Rights Reserved (vs. All Rights Reserved)

Content is like traditional textbooks:• Table of contents, chapters, index• Written by expert author• Edited and peer-reviewed

Formats go beyond traditional textbooks:• Accessible free online by the public• Downloadable,

typically as a PDF• Available in print

Collaborative StatisticsBy Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean

 

cnx.org/content/col10522

Download PDF or print

Read online version

Purchase printed copy

Purchasing a hard copy through print on demand publisher QOOP

Click here to print out

Key term links to definition

Navigate table of contents

Benefits for students:• Students choose their preferred format (print,

PDF, online, etc.)• Online access is free• Other formats are optional and fairly priced

Benefits for instructors:• All students have immediate access to the text• New editions are optional• Ability to customize• Corrections are immediate

Benefits for Colleges• Greater access to education for more students• Save money• Textbooks customized to

a specific population

The Downside…• Can require organized, coordinated effort• Books need reviewers• Possible hidden infrastructure costs (hosting,

printing, distribution, etc.)

Individual authors• Personal motivations• Sabbatical time/grant funding• Count open textbooks toward tenure?

Institutional projects• A consortium of 80+ community colleges is

pooling resources to write and review texts• Rice University founded CNX.org, a platform that

hosts numerous open textbooks• Hewlett & Maxfield Foundations funded the

creation of a new open textbook

Government funding• A new bill introduced by Sen. Durbin (D-IL) would

create a federal grant program to create open textbooks through the NSF

• The WA community college system received state funding to create open curriculum & texts for the 80 highest enrollment courses.

What About "Open" Commercial Publishers like Flat World Knowledge?    This is a failed model because:• It is how we got into trouble in the first place• It sets up a commercial intermediary between the students

and content• Tends to create proprietary interfaces (reader software)

that costs money• Costs inevitably go up 

The Long Tail

The same area

Benefits of this publishing model:• Used books aren’t a big threat, since new books

are affordable• Digital and print-on-demand distribution is far

more efficient• No need for excessive restrictions to prevent

piracy - the book is already available for free!

Remember, the solution must:1.Utilize open, non-commercial licenses• Texts must be easily editable• Come from the academic community• Include peer-review and editing• Provide free options for students• Create a useable, accessible repository• Utilize an efficient distribution and print-on-demand

system

There are models that do this now!

Instructors can • Seek & consider open textbooks• Participate in open communities• Promote open textbooks at their colleges• Negotiate electronic rights

Students can • Speak to their professors and encourage them to

consider open textbooks• Promote open texts on campus though student govt.• Get involved with Student PIRGS

Colleges can • Offer support to faculty interested in adopting or writing

open textbooks• Consider textbook authoring in tenure• Provide stipends and sabbatical • Join other colleges in joint OER efforts

Some Specific Examples• OpenStax - Free, openly licensed, peer-reviewed books.• Methods of Discovery: a guide to research writing  

Open Textbook Collections• OER Commons - There are a lot of textbooks here that will be of interest to us. Under recommended

resources click on "textbooks.“• Connexions - This is a site that features reusable modules and learning objects as well as some text

Project Sites for OER and Open Textbooks• Sophia Open Content Initiative - This is from De Anza and a good example of a grant-driven project in

California.• Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources - This project site has a lot of useful

links.• Open Education Resources Center for California - This is a good site for more information and

resources in California.

More information on OER at Brainstorm in Progress.

Adapted from a presentation by The Student PIRGsIllustrations from www.studentpirgs.org and http://commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.