Open Textbooks Are Asubset Abroad Ofoer, Category That Includes Courses, Assess Rapidly Gaining Traction

policymakers, andothers. Theviewsexpressedarethose of theauthor(s) and not necessarily those of ACE. hopewe to up-to-dateprovide information thinkingonand totrends emerging educationhigher leaders, topicsofrealm the in education innovation.andattainment Through project,this byfunded LuminaFoundation, We arepleasedto introduce thisseriesof what wearecalling “QuickHit”papers:briefson current andemerging making education more affordable, then opentextbooks is part ofthat.” Commons, says, “to the extent that there is alarger conversation happening about debt now tops$1.2trillion,Cable Green, the director ofglobal learning for Creative required textbooks because they are tooexpensive. Observing that overall student of textbooks can eclipse tuitionfees. Some believe that not all students purchase be as uptohalf as muchas tuitionatcommunity colleges, while inHawaii the cost or $1,200annually ontextbooks. InCalifornia, for example, the cost oftextbooks can by reducing oreliminating bookcosts. Onestimate, studentsspend as muchas $1,000 The case for opentextbooks is straightforward. First, they help studentssave money efforts todevelop opentextbooks. educational materials, including textbooks. Afew funders also startedsupporting called OpenStax) toprovide aspace where authors and learners could share and adapt neering atRice University (TX), founded anorganization called Connexions (now course materials. In1999, Richard G.Baraniuk, Victor E.Cameron Professor ofEngi and university courses, and the Technology’s OER first gained traction with such initiatives as the Massachusetts Institute of materials toshare permission touse them.) is anonprofit organization that licenses afree, standardized pathway for creators of the user can reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute the resource. ( Creative Commons—and also that itis made available withimplicit permission that charge—either inthe public domain orunder alicense such as that provided through In this context, “freely” means boththat the material is openly available free of principle ofOERis that materials produced by one party can beused freely by others. ments, articles,case studies,and many other types ofeducational materials. The Open textbooks are asubset abroad ofOER, category that includes courses, assess rapidly gaining traction. into interactive experiences rather than from staticunits,the use ofopentextbooks is toolofvirtuallytried-and-true every college course. Apart from work toturntextbooks last decade, that revolution has taken hold innew thinking around the textbook—that Digital technology has revolutionized many aspects ofhigher education. Over the and thecatalog of OERtextbooks continues toexpand. isgaining tractionOER, across different types of colleges anduniversities, but how extensively are theybeingused? Use of opentextbooks, oneform of We hearalot inhigher educationabout openeducationalresources (OER), QUICK HITSOpen Textbooks: TheCurrent State ofPlay OpenCourseware Open Course Library , which has posted materials from over 2,000college , another collection ofshareable Creative Commons -

- involved. Several examples ofcurrent practice are illustrative: of opentextbooks. Notably, too, avariety ofinstitutions across higher education are Slowly but definitively, agroundswell is building inthe development and adoption OPEN TEXTBOOKSINDEVELOPMENT to the text’s development. dent more interactively withatext—or even giving that studentachance tocontribute also anargument that opentextbooks promote active learning by engaging the stu updated toinclude relevant new knowledge, perhaps improving pedagogy. There is institution offers them. The other main benefit is that open textbooks canbe readily lower-level courses, where muchofthe content is similar no matter what type of Proponents ofopentextbooks say that they are aready option,especially for

QUICK• • • HITS• to opentextbooks inawiderange ofdisciplines. partners topromote awareness and The adoption CCCOER ofOER. has links for Innovation inthe Community Colleges, and many other educational Consortium, the American Association for Community Colleges, the League community colleges, regional and statewide consortia, the OpenCourseware for OpenEducational Resources (CCCOER) More than 250 colleges have joined the undergone Merlot’s extensive peer review process oreditorial review. tem, Merlot now has over 3,400 opentextbooks—nearly 1,500ofwhich have the education community. Aprogram ofthe California StateUniversity sys teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by lot Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching ( thropies. Bill &Melinda GatesFoundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and other philan College plans toexpand itslibrary to21titles by 2017. Supporters include the sities, and highschools, saved studentsmore than $13million.OpenStax use innearly 900courses atcommunity colleges, four-year colleges, univer peer-reviewed college textbooks. The project’s first seven books, adopted for $9.5 millioninnew grantstodevelop 10additional titles for itscatalog offree, In August, Rice University-based publisher two initiatives share those peerreviews. does asimilar effort atthe University ofBritish Columbia (Canada), and the textbooks. The project pays faculty members toreview opentextbooks, as a plan tobecome apartner, too, and move toward wideradoption ofopen involved inthe effort. This past summer, North Dakota’s legislature weighed University (IN),Oregon StateUniversity, and other institutions have been allow faculty tocustomize texts tobettermeet their students’needs. Purdue library offree, open-source, peer-reviewed, high-quality textbooks that also Open Textbook Catalog ), anearly initiative is acurated inOER, collection offree and openonline Open Textbooks: TheCurrent State of Play (2) . The University ofMinnesota created this online Community College Consortium OpenStax College , ajointeffort by individual announced Mer - - - - - But after that, he says, there is atremendous payoff. Once the books are built and textbook, as well as “a significant amount of money updating those books annually.” says that OpenStax spends between $400,000and $500,000 todevelop one open Developing quality opentextbooks takes considerable resources. For example, Green fervor: Colleges and universities are starting toembrace opentextbooks withincreased OPEN TEXTBOOKSINTHECLASSROOM

QUICK• • • HITS• fer toArizona universities. technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that helps studentstrans ing withazero-cost-for-textbooks model for apopular degree inscience, goal ofsaving students$5millionover five years. They are also experiment program to encourage faculty to adopt OER The Maricopa County Community College District (AZ) has embarked ona open textbooks so that studentswillpay nothing for books. based onLumen’s “Textbook Zero” model. The program uses high-quality offer atextbook-free associate of science degree in business administration Tidewater Community College across colleges and universities that serve predominantly at-risk students. effort designed to implement anOER-based general education curriculum (NY) is part ofthe gram willuse OERand incur no textbook orsoftware costs. Mercy College September that studentsinanew based private colleges. Seattle Pacific University, for example, announced in Cable Green notes atrend toward adoption ofopentextbooks among faith- impacts studentlearning. students atas muchas $4million,and plans research toassess how OER for our students,” Vignare said. UMUC estimates annual costs savings for resources for learning outcomes, we have improved the quality ofresources and instructional designers. “Through the selection process offinding open vetted through arigorous review process that engages faculty, library staff, tunities toimprove course quality. OERmaterials atUMUC are curated and Provost Karen Vignare added that the move toward OERalso creates oppor nothing out-of-pocket for any kind ofcourse materials ortextbooks.” Vice noted that as aresult “over half ofour courses now require studentstopay Cini, provost and senior vice president for academic affairsat UMUC, who now have fully embedded openeducational resources,” reported Marie A. courses by the fall of2016.“About 60percent ofour undergraduate courses three-year 93,000 studentsworldwide, primarily online, is inthe midst ofanambitious The University ofMaryland University College (UMUC), which serves some project Open Textbooks: TheCurrent State of Play (3) toinsert OERcontent intoall undergraduate and graduate Kaleidoscope OpenCourse Initiative (VA) is partnering withLumen Learning to Digital Education Leadership MEd —including textbooks—with a , agrant-funded pro - - - - QUICKopen textbooks across higher education. cant investments” inpursuit of“quality resources developed” and wideradoption of open textbooks are taking their crafttothe next level, which he says entails “signifi raising their standards for quality, he suggests. Accordingly, he says, developers of going tohave tobeas good”for opentextbooks, and developers willhave tokeep with commercially published books that can cost upwards of$150,the technology is continue tohone the materials they are developing. “Ifwe are going totruly compete Cable Green suggests that the next stepsfor advocates ofopentextbooks willbeto learning, but also onstudents’budgets. resources is gaining momentum and having animpact not only onteaching and course remains tobeseen. For now, itappears that work todevelop and use these How extensively opentextbooks willeventually beadopted inhigher education of WHAT DOESTHEFUTURELOOK LIKE? have instituted programs that support OER. Stateeducationing systems OER. inArizona, Minnesota, New York, and Virginia in California, Florida, Washington, and other stateshave adopted legislation support grant program tosupport development ofopentextbooks atuniversities. Lawmakers the drive. InCongress, the proposed tion ofopentextbooks through grants.At the same time, legislators are also leading Some ofthe nation’s leading philanthropies are nudging the development and adop faculty are becoming convinced oftheir value. professors may never warm tothe idea ofopentextbooks, itis fairtosay that more great opportunitiesfor creativity indeveloping materials for courses. Whilesome open textbooks. And many faculty who work withOERlearn that itsflexibility offers faculty resonate tothe challenge ofcutting the cost ofcollege for studentsby using HITSple—migrating toOERposes more ofachallenge. Green notes, though, that many specialized materials—such as asoftware program for anaccounting course, for exam for my students,” as Green summarizes it.Inafew cases where courses require highly set persists among other faculty that “ifIdidn’t build it,itmay not begoodenough are behind virtually all the significant projects todevelop opentextbooks, the mind Reaction toopentextbooks among faculty is mixed. Whilecadres offaculty members students upwards of$10million—and counting. for 100-and 200-level courses. The project cost $1.5millionand has already saved example, recently moved todevelop and adopt OERmaterials, including textbooks, The savings tostudentsaccrue rapidly. The community colleges inWashington, for reduced, ifnot eliminated entirely. stages ofthe publishing supply chain—storage, replication, and delivery—are sharply books and storing them digitally means that the costs ofthree formerly expensive with anybody onthe planet goesessentially tozero.” Moreover, he says, transmitting given anopenlicense, Green says, “the marginal cost ofsharing those opentextbooks Open Textbooks: TheCurrent State of Play (4) Affordable College Textbook Act would fund a - - - - - QUICK Wiley, David, Cable Green, and Louis Soares. 2012. HITSTextbook Affordability Project. n.d.Open Access Textbook Repository Database. Uni Millard, Maria. 2014. Kortemeyer, Gerd. 2013.“Ten Years Later: Why OpenEducational Resources Have EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. 2011. “7Things You Should Know About OpenText RESOURCES issues/2012/02/pdf/open_education_resources.pdf and EDUCAUSE. the DoortoFree Learning. the Cost of How Education OpenEducation withOER: Resources Unlock versity ofSouth Florida. org/clearinghouse/01/14/37/11437.pdf College. hinder adoption ofOER.) affected-higher-education-and-why-we-should-ca ten-years-later-why-open-educational-resources-have-not-noticeably- EDUCAUSE ReviewOnline Not Noticeably Affected Higher Education, and Why We Should Care.” ir/library/pdf/ELI7070.pdf book Publishing.” Washington, DC:EDUCAUSE. Denver, CO: Education Commission ofthe States. Open Textbooks: TheCurrent State of Play (5) Open-Source Textbooks Can HelpDrive Down theOverall Cost of http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/ http://tap.usf.edu/faculty/open-access-textbooks Washington, DC:Center for American Progress . . http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/ . Dramatically BringingDown http://net.educause.edu/ . (Reports factors that . http://www.ecs. - . -