The cost and quality of online open textbooks: Perceptions of community college faculty and students
Published | 2013 |
Journal | First Monday Volume 18, Issue Number 1 - 7 January 2013 |
ABSTRACT
Proponents of open educational resources (OER) claim that significant cost savings are possible when open textbooks displace traditional textbooks in the college classroom. We investigated student and faculty perceptions of OER used in a community college context. Over 125 students and 11 faculty from seven colleges responded to an online questionnaire about the cost and quality of the open textbooks used in their classrooms. Results showed that the majority of students and faculty had a positive experience using the open textbooks, appreciated the lower costs, and perceived the texts as being of high quality. The potential implications for OER initiatives at the college level seem large. If primary instructional materials can in fact be made available to students at no or very low cost, without harming learning outcomes, there appears to be a significant opportunity for disruption and innovation in higher education.Keywords | higher education · Open Educational Resources · textbook quality |
Refereed | Yes |
Rights | © First Monday, 1995-2013. |
DOI | 10.5210%2Ffm.v18i1.3972 |
URL | http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3972/3383 |
Export options | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
Viewed by 122 distinct readers
CLOUD COMMUNITY REVIEWS
The evaluations below represent the judgements of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cloud editors.
Click a star to be the first to rate this document
▶ POST A COMMENT
SIMILAR RECORDS
An OER COUP: College teacher and student perceptions of Open Educational Resources
Bliss, TJ; Robinson, Jared T.; Hilton, John; Wiley, David A.
Despite increased development and dissemination, there has been very little empirical research on Open Educational Resources (OER). Teachers and students involved in a large-scale OER initiative at eight community ...
Match: Bliss, TJ; Hilton, John; Wiley, David A.
A preliminary examination of the cost savings and learning impacts of using open textbooks in middle and high school science classes
Wiley, David A.; Hilton, John; Ellington, Shelley; Hall, Tiffany; et al.
Proponents of open educational resources claim that significant cost savings are possible when open textbooks displace traditional textbooks in the classroom. Over a period of two years, we worked with 20 middle and ...
Match: Hilton, John; Wiley, David A.; Open Educational Resources
The adoption of Open Educational Resources by one community college math department
Wiley, David A.; Robinson, Jared; Clark, Phil; Gaudet, Donna; et al.
The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains ...
Match: Hilton, John; Wiley, David A.; Open Educational Resources
A multi-institutional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students
Fischer, Lane; Hilton, John; Robinson, Jared T.; Wiley, David A.
In some educational settings, the cost of textbooks approaches or even exceeds the cost of tuition. Given limited resources, it is important to better understand the impacts of free open educational resources (OER) on ...
Match: Hilton, John; Wiley, David A.; Open Educational Resources
Openness, Dynamic Specialization, and the Disaggregated Future of Higher Education
Wiley, David A.; Hilton, John; McGreal, Rory; Conrad, Dianne
Openness is a fundamental value underlying significant changes in society and is a prerequisite to changes institutions of higher education need to make in order to remain relevant to the society in which they exist. ...
Match: Hilton, John; Wiley, David A.; higher education
Cost-savings achieved in two semesters through the adoption of open educational resources
Hilton, John; Robinson, T.; Wiley, David A.; Ackerman, J.
Textbooks represent a significant portion of the overall cost of higher education in the United States. The burden of these costs is typically shouldered by students, those who support them, and the taxpayers who fund ...
Match: Hilton, John; Wiley, David A.; Open Educational Resources
The Tidewater Z-Degree and the INTRO Model for sustaining OER adoption
Wiley, David; Williams, Linda; DeMarte, Daniel; Hilton, John; et al.
A growing body of research confirms the financial and academic benefits that accrue to students whose faculty adopt open educational resources, or OER. While there are no content licensing costs associated with using ...
Match: Hilton, John; Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources and collaborative content development: A practical guide for state and school leaders
Patrick, Susan; Bliss, TJ; Tonks, DeLaina
Open Educational Resources and Collaborative Content Development: A Practical Guide for State and School Leaders – written by TJ Bliss, Ph.D. of the Idaho State Department of Education, DeLaina Tonks of the Mountain ...
Match: Bliss, TJ; Open Educational Resources
7 things you should know about open education: Policies
Green, Cable; Illowsky, Barbara; Wiley, David A.; Ernst, David; et al.
Open education policies are formal regulations regarding support, funding, adoption, and use of open educational resources (OER) and/or open education practices (OEP). Such policies are designed to support the creation, ...
Match: Wiley, David A.; higher education
7 things you should know about open education: Content
Green, Cable; Illowsky, Barbara; Wiley, David A.; Ernst, David; Young, Lisa
Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium that reside in the public domain or that have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, ...
Match: Wiley, David A.; Open Educational Resources