Open College TextbooksCreated by Experts. Enhanced by Users. Free to All.

College Publishing in U.S.

• 19.1M students in 2010

• Average textbook spend $850/student (GAO 2007)

• So,….U.S. industry size approx. $16b

• Used books - 40% share but growing (rental, etc.)

• So,….New books (the publishers) $10b annually

Oligopoly

• Cengage – 30% market share (Private)– Southwestern, Brooks-Cole, CourseTechnology, HM, etc.

• Pearson – 27%– Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, BenjaminCummings, etc.

• McGraw-Hill – 20%– Irwin, WC Brown, etc.

• Others (Wiley, BFW, Jones & Bartlett)

• Last major launch: Course Technology→ 1987

BUT……

Source: “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them” by Jean Johnson, Jon Rochkind. Amber N. Ott & Samantha DuPontPrepared with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Authors Publishers

Faculty Students

NOBODY IS HAPPY

SO……

Open Education Repositories

• Source of funding usually Foundation money – (Hewlett, Sloan, Carnegie, others)

• $80M+ over last 10 years

• MIT Open Courseware, Merlot, Connexions, Curriki, Carnegie OLI, etc. all major players

• Wikitexts, Wikibooks, etc.

• Is movement gaining traction? Answer is YES

Strengths of OER

• Access is equal worldwide (the web)

• Community can create and evaluate resources “openly”

• I can improve yours/you improve mine

• Affordability (free)

• Builds on open source momentum.

Weaknesses of OER

• Course Use/Adoptability not scalable (yet)

• Often is Syllabi and learning objects – not enough core material for curriculum development

• Funding dries up…oops (sustainability?)

• Limited author pool – no comp.

• Can get the knock for low quality

AND……

Authors Faculty Students FWK

B&N

Follett

Apple

Amazon

Chegg

Half.com

BookRenter

eBay

Pearson, Cengage, McGraw-Hill

Flat World Knowledge

CourseSmart

CafeScribe$

$$

$

$

$ $ $

$

$

“Publisher 2.0”

Great Authors/ Textbooks

Transfer Control of Content

The Flat World Knowledge Model

Top Authors

ProvideCompelling

Choices

Alternate Formats Efficient Study Aids

Free Open

Audio Study Guides

Practice Quizzes

Digital Flashcards

Soft Cover Print

Audio

Print it Yourself

Kindle/iPad/Sony/etc.

Professionally Developed

Fully Supported

Open License(BY-NC-SA)

Open Platform

Great Authors/ Textbooks

Transfer Control of Content

The Flat World Knowledge Model

Top Authors

ProvideCompelling

Choices

Alternate Formats Efficient Study Aids

Free Open

Instructors

“As Good or Better Books”

Supplements & Support

Control Over Content & Timing

Affordability & Choice for Students.

Authors

Rapid market share gain

Richer compensation

Future facing model

Get to be good guys

Students

Free (or low cost) books

Freedom (to choose)

Mobility & Efficiency

Improved learning

Textbooks, Open Educational Resources, and the Role of the Library

Greg Raschke and Shelby Shanks,

North Carolina State University

Charleston Conference

November 4, 2010

Initial View from the Library

Typical scholarly communication problem – player with little power

Lacked even bargaining power

Teaching and curriculum side – not library issue

Assignment to student-led textbook initiative

Colleague from the UK UNC system mandates

about costs

Revised View from the Library Closer look

Dissatisfaction wide-spread – less dependencies on current system

Multiple players concerned about market

Ripe for alternatives Libraries increase learning

technologies and curriculum support role

We enter the fray on the edges

Course Books Efforts

Collections and reserves programs Libraries’ policy is to purchase one copy of every required

textbook - about 4,000 titles with 14,000+ circulations in 2008/09 (240% increase)

% of titles circulating up each semester – word of mouth Electronic reserve system – direct linking – leverage content

Partnership with bookstore Ebook collections from Springer, Morgan & Claypool, etc. covering

small number of required books (typically higher level courses)

Course Book Efforts

Putting our dollars into market alternatives Education, outreach, and expertise

Site on Alternative Models – Aim was to educate, and possibly persuade

White paper – Authored by GTA, initial foray into “open” textbooks

Advocacy – Libraries’ developed expertise; offer consultations

Resource for faculty seeking alternatives Connexions, FlatWorldKnowledge Dynamic, customizable content

Course Book Efforts

Licensing and hosting introductory Physics text http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/etexts/Physics_Fundamentals/

Hosting faculty authored texts and chapters Print-on-demand with Bookstore/Espresso Machine Overhead is an issue Site licensing, centralized purchasing, and fees?

Course Book Efforts – Initial Conclusions Library as best supporting actor Textbooks and OER should be part of educational

resource strategy and learning technologies partnerships Quality and functionality are very important – students

are generally divided – so need hybrid solutions Market driven solutions hold most promise

Could be commercial marketCould be academic market

Charleston Conference, Nov 4, 2010

Marilyn BillingsScholarly Communications LibrarianUniversity of MassachusettsAmherst, MAmbillings@library.umass.edu

Open Education Resources at UMass Amherst

24Scholarly Communication Office, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

Beginnings

Open Access Weeks, 2009 and 2010• Awareness

Sept 21, 2010 event• Education

Publicity / Buy-In

Resources• Scholarly Communication Office• OER LibGuide

25Scholarly Communication Office, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

OER Events During OA Weeks 2009 & 2010http://scholarworks.umass.edu/oa/2009/

oct22/4/ http://scholarworks.umass.edu/oa/2010/oct19/3/

26Scholarly Communication Office, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

University OER Event on September 21http://scholarworks.umass.edu/oer/

More pictures about event are available at:http://scholarworks.umass.edu/oer_images/

27Scholarly Communication Office, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

Publicity

Local newspapers

Campus news

Buy-In Faculty Senate Office of Faculty Development Provost’s Office

28Scholarly Communication Office, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

ResourcesScholarly Communication LibGuide:http://guides.library.umass.edu/scholarlycommunication

OER LibGuide:http://guides.library.umass.edu/oer