The Affordable Classroom

Open Access Textbooks

Agenda

• An introduction to open education and open textbooks

• Why use an open textbook?• Demo: Building a mix and match course• Paul Chafe: Open Access textbooks in SSH205

Open Education

“A collection of practices that utilize online technology to freely share knowledge” – UBC•Open access journals (DOAJ)•Open data (Toronto Open Data)•Open source software (Firefox, Wordpress)•Open educational resources (OER Commons)•Open textbooks

BC Campus, “Adopting Open Textbooks.” http://adoptotb.com

Benefits of Open Access

• Jack Andraka – high school student who invented screening test for pancreatic cancer by reading open source journals articles

By XPRIZE Foundation (Flickr: Visioneering 2013) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Open Educational Resources

• “teaching, learning or research materials that are in the public domain or released with an intellectual property license that allows for free use, adaptation, and distribution” –UNESCO

• The 4Rs – Reuse, Revise, Remix, Redistribute – David Wiley

BC Campus, “Adopting Open Textbooks.” http://adoptotb.com

Open Textbooks

• “a textbook that has been released with an open license”

• The open license allows the textbook to be copied, shared and revised. – the textbook can be distributed to students for

free. – educators have the right to change the content of

the textbook, allowing textbooks to be customized to meet the specific needs of learners

Why Use Open Textbooks?Price

• Average undergraduate cost textbooks and supplies $200.00CAN per course

• Textbooks on average increasing at a cost of 6%-7% per year and sometimes more

• Estimated 82% increase in the price of college textbooks since 1982 in the US

• E-textbook licences often expire and are sometimes limited to only 6 months

• Textbook refreshment cycle of every three years means the used textbook market is limited

Why Use Open Access Textbooks?Access

• U.S. PIRG survey found 65% of 2000 students surveyed had opted out of buying the required textbook because of price

• 94% of the students who had skipped buying textbooks believed it could hurt their performance in class.

• 48% of the students said that they had altered which classes they take due to textbook costs

Why Use Open Access Textbooks?Improved student performance

• US study of 4,183 science students showed an increase of . 65 points on standardized tests using open textbooks

• Virginia State University study showed higher grades in courses that used open textbooks

Case Study: University of Virginia

• Study looked at student experience of open textbooks

• 991 students in 9 business courses• Increased student marks • Students were satisfied with the resources• Improved access to resources (parity)• Weakness – possibly better suited to

introductory coursesFeldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton III, J., & Wiley, D. (2012). Open Textbooks and Increased Student Access and Outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning.

How to use an open access textbook

• The idea that courses must have “required reading” can lead to the label “required” being applied to “all course-linked reading assignments”

• An overwhelming amount of “required” readings forces students to make choices about the amount of time they are willing to invest in completing the readings

How to use an open access textbook:Selecting Course Readings

Hobson, E.H. (2004). “Getting Students to Read: Fourteen Tips.” Idea Paper 40. The Idea Center.

• The selection of the reading material also has a major impact on student compliance. – Readings used for purposes that they were never

intended, or “not appropriate to the context in which they are used.”

– For example, dense or specialized reference books being assigned as a primary course teaching and learning tool.

How to use an open access textbook:Selecting Course Readings

Hobson, E.H. (2004). “Getting Students to Read: Fourteen Tips.” Idea Paper 40. The Idea Center.

• Provide students with material that they not only need to know, but is also engaging and “has some application to their own lives and thoughts”

• When possible, “feed them small doses of the stuff they’re used to seeing, such as Web sites, blogs, and graphic novels”

How to use an open access textbook:Selecting Course Readings

Immerwahr, J. (2013). Reading Assignments. Teach Philosophy 101

Weir, R. (2009). They Don’t Read! Inside Higher Education.

• Putting individual copyrighted chapters on e-reserve using fair dealing

• Remixing open access resources to focus only on what is needed for your particular course

• Providing links in your course shell to material on the web

• Working with the library to clear copyright on on different types of material

How to use an open access textbook:The Mix and Match Approach

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

One chapter from a traditional textbook (used under fair dealing)

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Build an Mix and Match Course

Adopt an Open Access Textbook

• Research what is out there • Review and evaluate• Decide if you want to use as is OR edit

and customize• Distribute to your students and cite• Let other instructors know how it worked

out

Supports available at Ryerson

• LTO will help with best practices on textbook creation

• The library can host Open Access Textbooks in the RULA Digital Repository

• Copyright Librarian will help with research on open access resources

• E-Learning Librarian can help with tips on software etc.