Education Commons^™

Be The Spark: Institutional Recommendations For Open Educational Resources, Jenni Breems, Christopher Doll

Staff Work

It began with a conversation in 2018. How could a consortium of private academic libraries in Iowa promote the use of open educational resources (OER) at their institutions? We could see the potential. An OER is defined as “a teaching, learning, or research resource that is offered freely to users in at least one form and that either resides in the public domain or has been released under an open copyright license that allows for its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with attribution” (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, Citation2021). The Iowa Private Academic Libraries consortium (IPAL) has …

Textbook Affordability At Smith College: Affirming Smith's Commitment To Creating An Inclusive, Equitable And Accessible Educational Community, Natalie Laroche

Other Student Projects

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s (PIRG) Education Fund, notes that “in 2020, 65 percent of students surveyed reported skipping buying a textbook because of cost” (Vitez & Nagle, n.d.). The costs of course materials are rising at astronomical rates. According to the Student PIRGs, “the cost of textbooks and course materials has increased at three times the rate of inflation since the 1970s” (Xie, 2023). Textbooks are unnecessarily expensive and are increasingly a barrier to education access and student success. Extensive research has demonstrated that while publishers can get away with (and profit off of) high prices, students who …

2022 Gettysburg College Textbook Survey Full Report, Mary R. Elmquist, Janelle Wertzberger

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. This report compiles the results from Gettysburg College participants' responses. Comparisons are also made to the results from Gettysburg's 2019 survey and the larger group of colleges.

The George-Anne Daily, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Confronting National Imagination: American Identity And Hand-Me-Down History, Rebecca Fitzsimmons, Caitlin Stewart

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This presentation examined historical and contemporary textbooks from ISU Special Collections and the Teaching Materials Center in the context of current and emerging dialogs about identity politics in education.

The roots of modern American history curriculum can be traced back to ubiquitous stories that are intimately tied to a constructed national identity. This presentation critically examines the intersection of national imagination and history education by examining one narrative from early adoption in history education to today's textbooks.

Critically analyzing American history can feel contradictory to a foundational piece of American identity. As a result, constructing an inclusive curriculum can feel …

Creating A Student Driven Oer Digital Textbook, Christine R. Ingersoll, Larry Sheret, Monisha Gupta, Ralph May

SOJMC Faculty Research

Design Across the Disciplines: Learning the value of communication design through practice” is an OER (open educational resource), digital textbook under prototype testing in a media design course. The text is created in collaboration with a librarian, two faculty from different colleges and two students who have completed the course. This interdisciplinary team was formed with the directive to embrace the powers of design thinking through digital content to develop a product that truly recognizes the needs of the primary users, our students and key stakeholders, the faculty.

Is Price Why Students Don't Get Their Books? Undergraduate Acquisition Of Class Materials, Joseph Todd Patton

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A study of the acquisition of assigned textbooks and materials was conducted among 1,333 active undergraduates, exploring the widely reported phenomenon of two-thirds of students not getting all the books and materials assigned to them in their college classes. Current research focuses on high textbook & materials prices as the reason why students do not get assigned materials, and government policies are focused on bringing down these prices. This study’s major focus was investigating whether it is true that high prices explain why undergraduates do not get their assigned class materials. The findings suggest that price is not the reason …

Course Portfolio For Cive 378 Materials Of Construction, Spring 2021, Congrui Grace Jin

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

CIVE 378 Materials of Construction is a required three-credit course for junior students at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Nebraska Lincoln, which is taught every spring semester. Every spring about seventy undergraduate students register CIVE 378, most of whom are junior students and sophomore students majoring in civil engineering. Teaching quality of this course is very important for students’ learning of the fundamentals of construction materials. The aim of this course portfolio is threefold: (1) to demonstrate the intellectual work of teaching taking place inside and outside of the classroom of CIVE 378; (2) to …

(Un)Affirming Assimilation: Depictions Of Dis/Ability In Health Textbooks, Sherry L. Deckman, Ellie Futts Fulmer, Keely Kirby, Katharine Hoover, Abena Subira Mackall

Publications and Research

Purpose – In light of the systemic and pervasive nature of ableism and how ableist ideology structures – or limits – educational opportunities, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing conversation within the field of multicultural education regarding how to meaningfully include dis/ability in K-12 curricula.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper explores how elementary and middle school health textbooks from two prominent publishers in the USA portray dis/ability through quantitative and qualitative content analysismethods of 1,468 images across texts.

Findings – Findings indicate that the majority of the textbook portrayals of dis/ability tacitly forward assimilationist ideals. Specifically, the textbooks assume …

2010 Faculty And Administrator Open Educational Resources Survey Report, Ida J. Cook, Florida Distance Learning Consortium

UCF OER Studies and Reports

This survey was part of a final report of the Open Access Textbook Task Force (OATTF). The report contains a rational for open access textbooks, and a plan to promote and increase the use of open access textbooks in Florida. The objectives of this survey study (Appendix B of final report) has been to collect information from university, state and community college faculty and administrators and from student government leaders regarding their knowledge, awareness and opinions about open access textbooks, supplementary materials and other digital education products. The Open Access Textbook Task Force established two separate online surveys in order …

Tolerance In Uae Islamic Education Textbooks, Mariam Alhashmi, Naved Bakali, Rama Baroud

All Works

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The concept of “tolerance” has been thoroughly promoted within educational settings in light of the increasing need to foster co-existence and to nurture peaceful climates in societies. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Islamic education curriculum promotes the notion of tolerance as a core tenant across different grade levels. However, there is a gap in the literature investigating the approach and conceptualization of tolerance in UAE Islamic education curricula. This study employed qualitative content analysis of grade 10–12 textbooks to understand how the concept of tolerance is promoted and to identify the …

Teaching Students To Critically Evaluate Textbooks, Christopher Mchale, Ian Mcdermott, Steven Ovadia

Publications and Research

This chapter is a case study describing how library faculty combined service learning and information literacy to help students evaluate textbooks, comparing commercial ones to Open Education Resources. The underlying idea was to give students not only a scholarly grounding that would help them as they move through their academic careers but also a practical vocational orientation to help them succeed in the workforce and, hopefully, become future contributors to the free culture movement.

But What Do The Students Think: Results Of The Cross-Campus Zero-Textbook Cost Student Survey, Shawna M. Brandle, Stacy Katz, Anne Hays, Amy Beth, Cailean Cooney, Linda Miles, Jacqueline Disanto, Abigail Morrison

Publications and Research

The results of the first cross-campus survey of student opinions on Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses are in: City University of New York (CUNY) students like their ZTC courses, primarily for the cost savings and ease of access. The survey results yield rich data about how positively students feel about their Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses as well as ways to improve the design and delivery of Zero Textbook Cost courses to make them more beneficial for student learning.

The Genealogy Of The Textbook As An Educational Form: Orality And Literacy In Education, Norm Friesen

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, I provide a short but broad history of the textbook as a multimedia pedagogical and cultural form. In doing so, I pay particular attention to the interrelationship of oral and textual media and cultures, highlighting the ways that these two communicative modes are reconfigured over the history of this pedagogical form. I also situate the textbook in the context of changing instructional methods and practices, and demonstrate that instructional forms and practices have neither progressed along with new technologies nor gradually evolved from a primitive orality to sophisticated literacy. Instead, I show that these practices as well …

Cost, Outcomes, Use, And Perceptions Of Oers In Psychology: A Narrative Review Of The Literature, Virginia Clinton

Educational Foundations and Research Faculty Publications

Open educational resources (OER) have been developed to free students from the expense and instructors from the restrictions of commercial materials. There has been a wealth of empirical examination on numerous aspects of OER. The purpose of this narrative review is to synthesize and integrate the findings on OER in psychology to assist instructors in making informed decisions about course materials. Topics in this review were organized according to the COUP framework of cost, outcomes, use, and perceptions. Results indicated that OER adoption yielded cost savings while generally having similar or better outcomes in terms of grades. Students typically reported …

Despite Predictions Of Their Demise, College Textbooks Aren’T Going Away, Norm Friesen

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

While textbooks have been said to be on their way, they are still a mainstay in higher education.

Savings Without Sacrifice: A Case Report On Open-Source Textbook Adoption, Virginia Clinton

Educational Foundations and Research Faculty Publications

Rising textbook costs have prompted the development of open-source textbooks to increase access to education. The purpose of this case report is to examine open-source textbook adoption through the COUP framework (costs, outcomes, use, and perceptions) comparing a semester with a commercial textbook to a semester with an open-source textbook. Students (N = 520) were enrolled in an undergraduate course at a mid-sized public university in the United States. Results indicated that although costs were substantially lower, student learning outcomes and perceptions of quality were similar or better with an open-source textbook. Although students were much more likely to …

Numbers Are Just Not Enough: A Critical Analysis Of Race, Gender, And Sexuality In Elementary And Middle School Health Textbooks, Sherry L. Deckman, Ellie Fitts Fulmer, Keely Kirby, Katharine Hoover, Abena S. Mackall

Publications and Research

Textbooks are a multimillion dollar publishing business in the United States. Even as 21st-century classrooms become more multimodal, digital and hardcopy textbooks remain a key feature of American education. Consequently, classroom textbooks have been shown to control knowledge dissemination across the content areas. In particular, health texts have been uniquely shown to communicate values that validate or marginalize students and encourage healthy or harmful activity. Thus,what textbook makers choose to include as worthy of study, and how they portray various groups of people with regard to race, gender, and sexuality has societal implications. Employing quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods, …

Global Climate Change In U.S. High School Curricula: Portrayals Of The Causes, Consequences, And Potential Responses, Casey R. Meehan, Brett L.M. Levy, Lauren Collet-Gildard

Educational Theory and Practice Faculty Scholarship

Broad misconceptions about global climate change (GCC) could hinder efforts to address this large-scale problem, and curricular materials can play a substantial role in what students learn about GCC. This study examines how U.S. high school textbooks and supplemental curricular materials published between 2007 and 2012 portray the causes, consequences, and potential responses to GCC. Our data included text segments related to these topics in five science textbooks, four social studies textbooks, and eight sets of GCC supplemental materials. To analyze these text segments, we conducted several rounds of coding, first categorizing curricula by their acceptance of the human causes …

Rapid Review Of Curriculum 2013 And Textbooks, Kathryn Moyle, Anita Rampal, Dewi Rochsantiningsih, K Kristiandi

Curriculum development and review

Indonesia wants to improve the quality of students’ learning outcomes as a matter of urgency. One strategy being used to achieve this objective, is to improve the national curriculum, Curriculum 2013. The theoretical basis underpinning Curriculum 2013 has been informed by promising practices from across several countries, that have placed an emphasis on fostering student-centred and enquiry-based learning, and the development of ‘21st century skills’. This Rapid Review of Curriculum and Textbooks 2013 was undertaken at the request of Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC), to examine recent curriculum reforms and implementation strategies used in Indonesia, in order for MoEC …

Strategies For Using Data Analytics In Testing The Readability Levels Of Textbooks: It’S Time To Get Serious, Emily Wefelmeyer, Mary Beth Backus

Other Student Works

The idea that education in America is deteriorating is emotionally charged and controversial. While there is no disputing that education levels in the United States continue to rise, there is also a pervasive notion that this was accomplished by gradually reducing the readability level and general difficulty of textbooks. One tool often employed in the defense of education is the employment of readability indices in the evaluation of textbooks. There are a variety of these readability indices that serve the purpose of indicating a grade level for a particular piece of writing (Kinkaid, et. al., 1975). It’s relatively easy to …

Open Educational Resources: Solving The Textbook Cost Crisis, Michael Pujals

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

A presentation on Open Educational Resources and how the can be used to ease the cost burden of textbooks for students at Dominican University of California.

The Open Hub: How Libraries Facilitate Oer, Jeremy Smith

University Libraries Presentations Series

An examination of the role of libraries in the support of Open Educational Resources at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

The Treatment Of Six Sigma In Introductory Operations Management Textbooks: Clearing Up The Confusion, Handanhal Ravinder, Ram B. Misra

Department of Management Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper critically examines the treatment of the statistical basis for Six Sigma and process capability in popular operations management textbooks. It discusses areas of confusion and suggest ways of treating the topic that make sense to instructors as well as students. Even though Six Sigma was introduced almost 30 years ago, misconceptions persist. In the textbooks we have found no consistency of approach or understanding of the statistical underpinnings (3.4 defects per million opportunities) of Six Sigma. Sometimes statements are made that are factually incorrect and cause frustration for students and instructors. Similar difficulties are encountered in discussions of …

Mcclphei Staff Development Summer Workshop Day 2016, Jeremy Smith

University Libraries Presentations Series

A summary of the Open Education Initiative at UMass Amherst. Presented to the Massachusetts Commonwealth Consortium of Libraries in Public Higher Education Institutions, Inc.during their summer workshop.

Open Educational Resources Textbook List, Zachariah Claybaugh, Chelsea Stone

Librarian Publications

Discipline specific OER textbook list for departments at SHU, compiled by Zach Claybaugh and Chelsea Stone.

Textbooks And Their Portrayal Of Japan In World War Ii, Harry Lah

History Class Publications

“Good morning everyone, now if you’ll turn in your books with me to page...” drones the voice of the teacher, it can be any teacher, teaching history in a typical high school. Those words dreaded by students of all ages and from all generations that attended schools within the public school system of their respective states. Many students dreaded these classes, but they were no doubt influenced by them. By sitting in them they were presented with information both new and old about their state and country from their teacher, and perhaps more significantly, whatever textbook they had in school. …

Abc Analysis For Inventory Management: Bridging The Gap Between Research And Classroom, Handanhal Ravinder, Ram B. Misra

Department of Management Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

ABC analysis is a well-established categorization technique based on the Pareto Principle for determining which items should get priority in the management of a company's inventory. In discussing this topic, today's operations management and supply chain textbooks focus on dollar volume as the sole criterion for performing the categorization. The authors argue that today's businesses and supply chains operate in a world where the ability to deliver the right products rapidly to very specific markets is key to survival. With suppliers, intermediaries, and customers all over the globe, and product lives decreasing rapidly, this focus on a single criterion is …

High School Textbooks And The Changing Narratives Of Woman Suffrage, Kellian Clink

Library Services Publications

History textbooks are criticized for their dry prose, lack of description of causation, and ability to turn students away from the discipline of history. The authors surveyed 16 textbooks from 1933 through 2005 studying their coverage of woman suffrage. The textbooks treat the issue summarily and miss a great opportunity to describe the injustices perpetuated against women, the valor and courage of the activists who persisted and won during a sustained battle by hundreds of thousands of determined women. Furthermore, the textbooks surveyed end with the amendment and do not immediately put it into historical context, with the right to …

Geog 140: Human Geography—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Katherine Nashleanas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio will systematically evaluate my course in relation to ACE and Advanced Placement Human Geography standards and objectives. It will enable me to evaluate ways of increasing student engagement in large lecture classes, student retention, and organization that supports student mental health. As a result of writing this portfolio, I will be able to evaluate the internal consistency and coherence of my course. This portfolio provides a conceptual structure and physical place to put observations and notes about course improvement from semester to semester, which will enable me to become even more secure about the intellectual and pedagogical …