Online Learning Update

Gaby Del Valle, Vox

Textbook publishers, for their part, have begun acknowledging that textbooks and other course materials have become so expensive that some students simply can’t afford them, even if it means their grades will suffer as a result. Publishers claim that new technologies, like digital textbooks and Netflix-style subscription services, make textbooks more affordable for all. But affordability advocates say that if anyone is to blame for the fact that textbook costs have risen more than 1,000 percent since the 1970s, it’s the publishers — and, advocates claim, these new technologies are publishers’ attempt to maintain their stranglehold on the industry while disguising it as reform.
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/6/18252322/college-textbooks-cost-expensive-pearson-cengage-mcgraw-hill

By Jordan Friedman, US News

Online students may consider purchasing rather than renting textbooks if they plan to keep course materials as career resources.  Certain professors may not assign any textbooks and will simply have students download a series of journal articles and other reading materials at no cost. Other online courses may utilize Open Educational Resources, or OERs, which are free materials on the internet that are often available to anyone and are produced through university, state or federally funded projects, says Tony Contento, program manager for the School of Professional Studies at Colorado State University—Global Campus. “What they represent is a free resource for students designed by active professors,” Contento says. “And sometimes these professors even design other materials – videos, interactives, assessments – for student and faculty use.”

https://www.usnews.com/higher-education/online-education/articles/2019-01-15/6-things-to-know-about-textbooks-for-online-courses

by Cision
Awareness of open educational resources (OER) among U.S. higher education teaching faculty has increased by 12 percentage points over the past three years, but remains less than a majority, according to the new report.The study by the Babson Survey Research Group, Freeing the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2018, was supported by a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and is based on responses from over 4,000 faculty and department chairpersons. The study shows improvements in OER awareness, and growing concern among faculty regarding the cost of course materials.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/faculty-survey-finds-awareness-of-open-educational-resources-oer-up-amid-growing-concern-with-textbook-costs-300775651.html

Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

When professors shift to assigning Open Educational Resources instead of publisher-produced textbooks, the move typically saves students money (and it can be a significant amount). But OER is not free, since it costs money to develop the materials, takes time for professors to evaluate and adopt them, and typically involves other campus-support services as well. A report released last week gives perhaps the most detailed accounting of the pricetag to colleges looking to make signiciant moves to OER.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-10-18-free-textbooks-are-not-always-free-new-study-analyzes-oer-s-costs-to-colleges

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology
Nearly all of the courses for students earning an Associate of Arts degree in business will soon be covered by a free OpenStax textbook, thanks to a series of six new introductory business textbooks being produced by the Rice University-based publisher of open educational resources. The series includes texts for Introduction to Business, Business Ethics, Principles of Management, Entrepreneurship, Principles of Accounting and Organizational Behavior — all courses taught at most colleges and universities in the United States, according to a news announcement, and typically required courses for degres in business or related fields.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/09/18/openstax-adds-business-textbook-series.aspx

by Kate Bueckert, CBC

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) has relaunched it’s #TextbookBroke campaign to highlight the high cost of textbooks and urge professors to choose free alternatives. The group initially launched the campaign in January, and during it, students shared stories about how not being able to afford textbooks impacted their education. “We saw students were spending about an average of $500 on textbooks,” said Shannon Kelly, vice president of student affairs for the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union and vice president of finance for OUSA. “Some students had to pick and choose between what textbooks they felt that they actually needed and could afford.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/university-waterloo-wilfrid-laurier-textbook-broke-free-1.4817656

by David Raths, Campus Technology

Columbus State Community College created a multimedia e-book for English composition students that reduces textbook costs and reimagines the ways learners engage with course material.   CSCC’s “iComp: A Guide to First-Year Writing” Multi-Touch iBook has completed a two-semester, seven-class pilot phase and is now being rolled out to four courses. According to the project team, the book eliminates the need for traditional textbooks and re-frames the ways students engage with course material. While it is important that students are saving money, the hope is that the innovative curriculum design will increase student success and retention. “We wanted to have the textbook be something students are constantly interacting with as a means of doing the work, not a supplementary thing,” explained Nicholas Lakostik, an associate professor of rhetoric and composition and one of the four authors of the book.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/09/05/making-etextbooks-more-interactive.aspx

By Study International
Recently, US-based edtech company Cengage announced a new subscription service for college students to access more than 20,000 digital course materials. This includes eBooks, online homework and study guides, at just US$119.99 a semester or US$179.99 a year. Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage, the US-based education and technology company providing the subscription, said: “For too long, our industry has contributed to the lack of affordable access to higher learning. Despite years of student and faculty complaints, the industry continued to push an outdated, traditional business model that didn’t put students first.” Hansen describes the college textbook business model as “outdated” and he’s not the only one.

It’s 2018. Why do we still have textbooks?

by National Association of College Stores and Student Monitor

Student Spending on Course Materials has Declined Significantly over Past 10 Years, from about $700 to $500 Annually.  Average Amount Spent on Each Course Material Unit Declines from $66 in 2016-2017 Academic Year to $64 in the 2017-2018 Academic Year.  According to two new studies, college students spent an average of $500 on textbooks and course materials during the 2017-2018 academic year. This new data, from the National Association of College Stores (NACS) and independent research firm Student Monitor®, found that student spending on materials declined for the third consecutive year. The average amount students spent on a course material unit was $64 – a 3% decline over the prior academic year according to Student Monitor.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180827005520/en/Student-Spending-College-Textbooks-Declines-Consecutive-Year

by Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

Though the university and publisher argue that the $999 price was just a “placeholder” that no one would actually pay, the incident has caused uncertainty and anger among students who are just trying to purchase the correct items at the best price. The textbook marketplace can already be incredibly confusing due to its plethora of vendors, subtly different textbook editions, disliked single-use access codes and disparate rental programs. While the online-only version of the textbook was priced at $999 in the Wiley marketplace, a bundled print and online textbook was available for $253.25 from the college bookstore. Both options include an access code for the WileyPlus online teaching and learning platform.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/08/28/universitys-999-online-textbook-creates-confusion-and-outrage

By James Paterson, Education Dive
A new Morning Consult study shows that 46% of students surveyed believe textbooks and other course materials have a “big impact” on their financial situations, and some experts say the costs heighten stress and force students to make tradeoffs that affect their ability to pay for housing and food, according to Inside Higher Education. About 43% of students surveyed said they skipped meals because of the expense for books, about 70% said they took on a part-time job because of the the added costs and around 30% said they had to take fewer classes. Some respondents even changed their major or opted out of a specific course so they would not have to pay the extra money. The head of the the education technology firm Cengage, which sponsored the survey of more than 1,600 students, said that textbooks and other course materials cost on average $1,200 a year per student, though learners often find other avenues — including renting books or copying what they need — but still pay almost half that.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/survey-students-say-textbook-costs-have-big-impact-on-finances/528744/

by FlatWorld

FlatWorld received responses from 139 professors across more than a dozen academic fields. Approximately 70% of the respondents were from four-year colleges, and 30% from two-year colleges.  The results shed light on a variety of criteria that professors use to evaluate textbooks, concerns about open education resources, and a continued demand for print in an increasingly digital world.  “Professors are keenly aware that the prices of many textbooks on the market today are simply absurd,” said Alastair Adam, co-CEO of FlatWorld. “They want to use high quality textbooks, but also realize that assigning a textbook with an exorbitant price tag will result in much of their class searching for outdated editions, or simply not buying the textbook.

http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/Digest/FlatWorld-Survey-Shows-How-Professors-Evaluate-Textbooks-125959.asp

by ZOE SEILER, JACE NEUGEBAUER, LAUREN WADE and K. RAMBO; IowaWatch.org

Dylan Miller spent $495 on college textbooks at the University of Northern Iowa — $167.50 for a linear algebra textbook alone — this spring semester. He might have used the books once a month, perhaps. The internet? Used it close to two hours a day. So why does he still buy textbooks? “That’s a great question,” said Miller, 20, a sophomore from Homestead studying actuarial science. “I will not be buying textbooks next semester.” A lot of college students are trying to avoid textbooks costs that range from around $20 for a book on writing grant proposals to $400 for a physics book, a spring IowaWatch/College Media Journalism Project revealed. Some rent books, saving an average $29 per book depending on the subject. They also rely on information they can find on the internet, sometimes as a first reference.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/education/high-textbook-costs-sending-college-students-elsewhere-during-studies/article_78622843-4f56-5329-9c63-b1b3af42a501.html

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Washington Post
Open-source textbooks have emerged as a cost-effective solution for cash-strapped college students. They can download the material free or print copies for a nominal price.  The federal government’s first major investment in the free use of textbooks remains on track, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday in a letter examining a pilot program by the Education Department. Congress designated $5 million in the fiscal 2018 budget to support the creation or expansion of open-educational resources: peer-reviewed academic material released under an intellectual property license that permits free use. The money is an outgrowth of legislation Durbin introduced in the fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/05/08/education-dept-sets-course-for-open-textbook-pilot-program/

by Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

New print textbooks can still cost students hundreds of dollars, but the cost of etextbooks is falling fast, according to data from etextbook distribution platforms VitalSource and RedShelf — both of which work with all major publishers. Since 2016, the average price of etextbooks on VitalSource has fallen by 31 percent, from $56.36 in 2016 to $38.65 in 2018. Some areas, such as mathematics, have seen more drastic change, said VitalSource. In 2016, the average math etextbook cost $79. Now it’s $39 — a decrease of almost 50 percent. RedShelf confirmed a similar price drop. In 2015, the average etextbook cost $53.11, the company said. Now it’s $39.24.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/05/01/publishers-race-reduce-costs-digital-textbooks

By Henry Kronk, eLearning Inside

A new study conducted by researchers at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, Canada examines the performance of students using open education resources (OER) in both print and digital formats compared to a traditional textbook from a commercial publisher. The study found that students using OER spent less time overall studying for the class while scoring comparably with those who used a commercially published textbook. The news is encouraging considering the cost of educational materials has drastically increased in the past decade. As reported recently by Student PIRGs, it has risen nearly four times the rate of inflation in the U.S. What’s more, as many as 65% of students don’t purchase all of the educational materials assigned by professors because of their high cost.

A New Study Found OER to Match and Even Outperform a Commercial Textbook

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Washington Post

A revolution in college course materials is raising questions about cost, access and fairness. Publishers say their high-tech courseware — electronic books glowing with videos and interactive study guides — can improve the quality of learning at a small fraction of the cost of traditional textbooks. But student advocates call for adoption of open-source textbooks that can be downloaded for free, and worry that the same companies that drove up the price of print textbooks are dominating the digital space and will ultimately introduce higher costs there. Now, Congress has stepped into the fray by committing $5 million in the fiscal 2018 budget to support the creation or expansion of open textbooks on college campuses. The money is the first major investment by the federal government in open-source materials and could advance the movement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/battle-over-college-course-material-is-a-textbook-example-of-technological-change/2018/04/14/fb3d0394-0db5-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html

by Gaurav Dahal, Diamondback (student opinion)

Traditional textbooks — the ones we are assigned in most of our classes — are unnecessarily expensive. The high cost of textbooks can be attributed to the textbook market, which is structured to victimize students. AEI.org reports that textbook prices have increased 812 percent since 1978, which is a greater increase than both medical and home prices. This astronomical increase has led to students spending an average of $1,250 a year on books and supplies, according to the College Board. That $1,250 is on top of the cost of tuition, mandatory fees and housing associated with going to college. It’s the textbook market and the publishers profiting off students that are to blame.

http://www.dbknews.com/2018/04/01/college-affordable-textbooks-open-source-copyright-openstax/

by Faith Green, University of North Georgia

Some UNG professors are taking the initiative to keep students from breaking the bank and their backs by providing free digital textbooks. One such professor is Ana Bonfante, a German lecturer on the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus. She created her own collection of varying resources for her students to use as an alternative to a textbook.  “Although I understand that authors and publishing houses want to make profits, I believe I need to do what is best for my students,” Bonfante said. “If I can save them money while still providing quality materials, then why not?”

http://ungvanguard.org/2018/03/some-ung-professors-are-implementing-free-online-textbooks/

By Lindsey Tepe, New America
For the first time in nearly a decade, Congress has significantly boosted federal education spending through its $1.3 trillion spending bill. In addition to the good news for early education advocates, legislators have done more than increase higher education spending—the omnibus bill also introduces several new programs. One of these new programs aims to address the issue of college affordability in an unconventional way: through targeting the rapidly growing expense of college textbooks. The new Open Textbook Pilot supports projects that create or expand the use of openly licensed college texts with the joint goal of reducing student costs and maintaining or improving student learning outcomes

https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/open-textbooks-omnibus-bill/

BY MAURA LERNER, STAR TRIBUNE

At Minnesota state colleges, students spend an average of $1,000 a year on textbooks alone. But in Brainerd, they can earn a two-year degree without paying a penny for books. Central Lakes College has joined a growing national movement to ditch pricey textbooks in favor of material that can be found online for free. This semester, it launched one of the state’s first “Z-degrees,” meaning that all the required readings—in this case, for an associate of arts degree—are available at zero cost to students.

‘Z-degree’ gives students textbooks for free