Rethinking the Traditional Textbook

Abstract

As college costs have continued to rise, textbooks now average more than $1,200 per student per academic year as of 2020. Traditional textbooks are not only expensive, but also have fixed and frequently outdated content. In this study, we compared pre-service teacher-student outcomes and perceptions of a traditional textbook versus no-cost, online materials such as open educational resources (OER) in an undergraduate Foundations of Education course. Outcomes were measured by comparison of final course grades. Perceptions were determined through quantitative and qualitative survey questions added to existing end-of-course evaluations. Results revealed students found OER and no-cost online materials more useful to their success in the course and more engaging than a traditional textbook. Qualitative analysis further revealed that while students appreciated there was no cost for the online materials, they preferred them to a traditional textbook because of the customized content. Results suggest students find instructor-curated, no-cost online readings more useful and preferable to a traditional textbook without compromising student academic performance.

Making Psychology’s Hidden Figures Visible Using Open Educational Resources: A Replication and Extension Study

“…Our findings further support using OERs to meet curriculum diversification goals, particularly when current history of psychology textbooks cannot (Cramblet Alvarez et al, 2020). Students in the current study felt the OER course materials were helpful, engaging, and supported their course work, which is consistent with other research evaluating the quality of OERs (Cooney, 2016; Clinton, 2018; Cozart et al, 2021). Importantly, there is evidence that learning outcomes for students in psychology courses with OERs are comparable to those with commercial materials (Clinton, 2018; Jhangiani et al, 2018; Nusbaum et al, 2020); therefore, the flexibility of OER do not appear to have deleterious effects on students learning psychology content.…”

Evaluación de recursos digitales en abierto para la competencia digital y mediática desde una perspectiva educomunicativa

“…Hence, the conclusions presented here may show a bias derived from a sample of a single nationality considering that there are initial differences in the digital and media competence of European higher education students (Llorent-Vaquero, Tallón-Rosales and de las Heras Monastero, 2020). In this sense, in studies such as that of Hillman et al (2021), North American students highlight the better availability and ease of use of OER as their main qualities, whereas others highlight the importance of adapting them to the needs of the students (Cozart, Horan and Frome, 2021), which requires personalised adaptations and the availability of tools to evaluate the adapted materials (Kotsopoulos, 2022), such as the OEDREQ questionnaire.…”

Measuring the Impact of an Open Educational Resource and Library e-Resource Adoption Program Using the COUP Framework

“…One widely used method multiplies the sticker price of the previously assigned commercial text by the number of students enrolled in the OER course. Though Cozart et al (2021) used the sticker price method, they note that cost savings can be difficult to determine precisely and may be inflated since not all students will purchase a new textbook at the list price. When determining cost savings of OER initiatives from 600 courses across 120 institutions, SPARC researchers (along with David Wiley) developed a formula to account for student purchasing behavior.…”