Education Commons^™

Texts On Repeat: Examining The Persistence Of Assigned Course Materials, Rachel E. Scott, Julie Murphy, Rachel Park, Anne Shelley, Mallory Jallas

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Many academic libraries’ collection development policies have discouraged the acquisition of assigned textbooks, but recent trends to support textbook affordability, student success, and online learning have caused some library personnel to rethink this approach. Through recent efforts at our library to purchase available e-copies for assigned course textbooks, we became curious about title persistence, or the frequency with which a unique title is assigned across multiple semesters and within a single semester across multiple sections. In this presentation we provide some background and context for our textbook affordability efforts and examine several years of assigned textbook data at Illinois State …

Investing In Textbook Affordability Pays Off For Students, Janelle Wertzberger

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Investing in textbook affordability can have a huge payoff for students—just ask Assistant Professors Alice Brawley Newlin and Marta Maras in the Management department. Their open, customized textbook for Statistical Methods (MGT 235) is completely free. It has been used by over 400 students and saved them an estimated $150,000! The story of how this remarkable outcome was achieved has its origins in Musselman Library. [excerpt]

Librarian Advocates For Open Educational Resources (Oer) As A Catalyst For Innovation In Health Sciences Education, Christine Andresen

MUSC Conference Presentations

Purpose: Data shows that at least 81% of medical students and 75% of health professional doctoral students graduate and enter the profession with student loans. Access to textbooks and ancillary instructional materials is essential, yet data shows that textbook prices have increased over 1000% between 1977-2015, exacerbating the systematic barriers to student access, affordability, and success in higher education. Open Educational Resources (OER) can reduce student textbook costs while also giving faculty the flexibility to adapt course materials to meet specific course needs. Librarians have experience leveraging subscription resources to reduce student costs and are well positioned to promote the …

2022 Gettysburg College Student Textbook And Course Materials Survey Executive Summary, Janelle Wertzberger, Mary R. Elmquist

All Musselman Library Staff Works

In Fall 2022, Musselman Library conducted its second course materials survey, this time in collaboration with 10 other liberal arts colleges from around the country. The results from this new survey illuminate how students are affected by textbook and course material costs, how they cope with these costs, and how effects and behaviors have changed since our 2019 survey.

This report summarizes the background of the project, key findings, and recommendations.

Textbook Affordability Open Course: Facilitator Guide And D2l Course Materials, Carrie Lewis Miller, Adeyemi Adelakun, Jen Cucurullo

IT Solutions Publications

This guide will help facilitators of the Textbook Affordability Open Course organize and implement the content in their own learning environment. The designers of the course have included items that need to be updated and personalized for each implementation of the course as well as helpful tips for successful implementation.

This course is an introduction to textbook affordability, open educational resources, and other open practices that impact equity in our classrooms. While it is geared towards higher education faculty, the concepts and practices covered here can be used in any teaching and learning scenario. This course will explore concepts tied …

Vcu And The Virginia Course Materials Survey, Jessica Kirschner

Open and Affordable Course Content at VCU

In Fall 2021, VIVA, Virginia’s Academic Library Consortium, distributed the Virginia Course Materials Survey to a selection of students at Virginia higher education institutions. The survey hoped to explore:

1. The relationship between educational equity and textbook costs, and

2. Which textbook features most benefited students’ learning experiences.

This report presents the results from this survey, focused on Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Included is an executive summary, full report, and data set for the VCU summary level data, available as percentages, and select student quotes from the free response.

Textbook Affordability Initiatives And Open Educational Resources: Complementary Or Competing Approaches To A Persistent Problem?, Anne Shelley, Rachel E. Scott

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This presentation investigates library support for textbook affordability initiatives and Open Educational Resources (OER) to consider the relative opportunities and limitations of both approaches. The literature has shown that the cost of textbooks—which has increased far beyond the rate of inflation—can be an obstacle to student success, especially for students from underrepresented groups. By sharing findings from published literature and results from focus groups and interviews conducted with teaching faculty, the speakers highlight both the incentives faculty have to collaborate with librarians to address the increasing costs of assigned materials as well as the challenges they face in adopting an …

Lowering The Activation Energy To Participate In Textbook Affordability Strategies, Carrie Lewis Miller

IT Solutions Publications

There are a number of barriers that faculty face when thinking about adopting textbook affordability measures. How can we, as librarians and instructional designers, help them take the first step quicker and easier? With this poster, I will share some of the strategies we have used at Minnesota State University, Mankato, including building anthologies of public domain documents, conducting a textbook analysis, and creating OpenStax course cartridges for D2L Brightspace.

Students To The Front: Using Participatory Design Techniques For Oer Advocacy, Marisa Petrich

Library Publications and Presentations

This poster outlines the content, activities, and assessment data from a textbook affordability workshop for students. The workshop implemented a combination of informative content and participatory design activities that enabled the students to develop and build consensus around their own advocacy action items. By the time the workshop concluded, the team had identified three possible activities they could complete as a group to advocate for Open Educational Resources and other affordable learning materials on campus. Supplementary resources for viewers to use or adapt themselves are also available.

2019 Gettysburg College Student Textbook And Course Materials Survey Executive Summary, Janelle Wertzberger, Sarah Appedu, Mary R. Elmquist

All Musselman Library Staff Works

We’ve all heard stories of students struggling with textbook costs, but how do our students cope when the price gets too high? Modeled after the Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey conducted by Florida Virtual Campus, Musselman Library’s course materials survey sought to uncover how textbook costs impact the success of Gettysburg College students. Results give insight into participants’ perceptions of how much money they spend, the strategies they use to reduce costs, and the effects of the cost of course materials on their academic success.

The Executive Summary details our research questions, key findings, and main takeaways.

Choose Your Own Initiative: Exploring The Landscape Of Oer And Textbook Affordability Programs, Matt Ruen, Jacklyn A. Rander, Janelle Yahne

Presentations

Congratulations! Your college or university is ready to plan (or maybe expand!) a campus-wide initiative focused on Open Educational Resources or other textbook alternatives. But OER and affordability programs vary widely in scope, funding, and strategies, described in articles, book chapters, and news stories. At Grand Valley State University, library OER supporters faced this situation when our faculty senate established a task force to identify university-wide strategies for OER and affordable course materials. To help this task force hit the ground running, we surveyed the landscape of programs at other institutions, identified organizations actively engaged in OER work, and selected …

How Much Do You Spend?: Textbook Affordability At Gettysburg College, Mary R. Elmquist

All Musselman Library Staff Works

This poster, created for Musselman Library's Charting your Course 2019 first-year orientation activity, explains some of the strategies that Gettysburg College students can use to mitigate the impacts of rising textbook costs.

Textbook Affordability: Oer, Libraries, And Other Steps Along The Way, Beth Clausen, Rhonda Huisman, Daardi Sizemore Mixon

Library Services Publications

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Course Material Affordability Options And Library-Subscribed Materials For Classroom Success, Keri Baker, Andy Shaffer, Steaven Nieratka

Staff Presentations, Proceedings, Lectures, and Symposia

On average 60% of students try to delay or avoid purchasing course materials due to underusage and material costs. Often faculty and administrators try their best to drive student success and affordability through numerous tools and resources available here at NSU. Through the latest trends and opportunities in course materials, and a partnership with the NSU Bookstore and NSU Libraries, ways to drive down cost in materials is a real opportunity. This presentation will discuss the partnership with the NSU Bookstore and NSU libraries to help drive student success, explore opportunities that faculty have to create Open Electronic Resources (OER) …