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How some professors are saving students money
▶ ANGIE BALDELOMAR @KansanNews
Sophia Miller, a senior from Omaha, Neb., said she was happy to learn from her music education professor that she wouldn't have to fork over money for one of two required textbooks for her psychology of music class. The text was available for free online, saving Miller $120.
Miller's professor, Abbey Dvorak, is among a small but growing number of instructors at the University adopting open-source textbooks and other free education. resources from the internet. Dvorak is not only saving students such as Miller money, but she has the potential to improve their academic performance since many students don't buy textbooks because of the expense.
"You have the book for free, so you don't have to share the book or worry about how to get it," Miller said. "It's more accessible and convenient."
The University estimates students spend $1,080 per year on textbooks. Nationally, the estimate is about $1,300. Over the last decade, textbook prices have increased by 82 percent, according to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.
The cost of textbooks has significant impact, not only on the debt many students have to accrue to get a degree, but also on their performance in class. One national survey of more than 2,000 students found that 65 percent had opted out of buying a college textbook due to its price, and of those students, 94 percent said they suffered academically. A sample of 76 students at the University echoed the results when Josh Bolick, a scholarly communication librarian, asked students at Anschutz Library last fall to fill out cards about the cost and use of textbooks. Among the comments:
"I don't buy any of my required texts anymore.
You have the book for free,so you don't have to share the book or worry about how to get it."
Sophia Miller Senior from Omaha
It's too expensive."
rarely use."
"I've spent around $500 just this semester on textbooks, some that I
Bolick helped spearhead the University's efforts in the past year to use the resources of the Open Textbook Network, a coalition of higher education institutions committed to improving access, affordability and academic success by helping faculty overcome barriers to open textbook adoption. The University joined the network in the summer of 2015.
The University is offering grants of up to $5,000 for professors who want to adopt open-source materials for their students. The grant initiative is modeled after a similar program at Kansas State University, which is also part of the network, Bolick said.
"It takes effort to redesign a class around new material," he said. "We hope that that incentive would be enough to get people to consider it."
Kansas State University started its Open/ Alternative Textbook Initiative in the spring of 2013. In the last three years, more than 40 courses at the university have used open source materials, saving about $2.5 million for approximately 29,000 students, according to K-State's Center for the Advancement of Digital Scholarship.
Open (source) textbook
Dvorak heard about
Some terms you should know...
Textbooks that have been funded, published, and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. These books have been reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to assess their quality.
Open Textbook Network
Coalition of higher education institutions committed to improving access, affordability, and academic success by helping faculty overcome barriers to open textbook adoption.
Open Educational Resources
Teaching and learning tools such as textbooks, modules, test questions, or any other teaching or learning resource that is free to access and openly licensed. These tools can be changed or modified to meet the needs of students.
Open Education
Collective term to describe institutional practices and programmatic initiatives that broaden access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems.
open resources for the first time last April during a workshop with two professors from the University of Minnesota's Open Textbook Network. She subsequently wrote a review of an open source text and her research and analysis led her to realize it could be used in her course.
"The workshop really opened my eyes to how I
might use this book in my class, and in the future, how I might modify it to make it even better for what my needs were for the course and what the students' needs are for the course," Dvorak said.
The move saved her 35 students a total of $4,200. Dvorak said she hoped that by providing a resource for them, students wouldn't
have to make financial choices between buying a textbook or paying for rent or food.
"I realized how difficult it could be for students to do well in a class because they have to pay for a textbook," she said.
Edited by Cody Schmitz