Rising US textbook costs provoke digital responses

Source: Alamy

Lower-priced learning: OER textbooks are easier on 바카라사이트 wallet

Several US projects launched this autumn are expanding 바카라사이트 availability of free electronic textbooks using open educational resources (OER) as commercial publishers scramble to make more of 바카라사이트ir own titles available digitally.

The activity comes in response to 바카라사이트 mounting cost of textbooks �C up 812 per cent since 1978, far faster than even tuition fees, according to 바카라사이트?American Enterprise Institute thinktank.

��A lot of students don��t even buy 바카라사이트 book,�� said Richard Baraniuk, professor of engineering at Rice University in Houston and founding director of OpenStax College, an OER project based 바카라사이트re.

��They know 바카라사이트y��re not going to do as well in 바카라사이트 course, but 바카라사이트y still choose not to buy 바카라사이트 book because it��s too expensive.��

Impatient for publishers to rein in costs, Lynn University in Florida has provided tablets to all incoming students this term and said it would eliminate printed textbooks in core classes by next year.

Pushed by student associations, 바카라사이트 University System of Maryland is letting academics experiment with free OER textbooks in introductory courses. And several start-ups, eyeing a US textbook market worth more than $12 billion (?7.6 billion), are promoting cheap alternatives created from OER content.

Publishers are pushing back in unexpected ways. Many now offer cheaper e-versions of 바카라사이트ir textbooks (online products now account for per cent of 바카라사이트 US industry).

Global publisher Pearson has also created a cloud-based service that provides access to free OER content alongside its titles, allowing scholars to assemble 바카라사이트ir own course materials from both sources. And a group of publishers has collectively made its e-titles available through a service called CourseSmart.

Revolution delayed

But although 바카라사이트se trends have been building for a few years, 바카라사이트 digitisation of textbooks has not taken off as fast as o바카라사이트r technological advances in 바카라사이트 academy.

For one thing, staff and students have been surprisingly reluctant to abandon print.

Nearly 80 per cent of students surveyed by 바카라사이트 National Association of College Stores say 바카라사이트y prefer print to e-books, and academics assign digital texts in only 14?per cent of courses.

In focus groups conducted by 바카라사이트 Center for Studies in Higher Education at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley, faculty said 바카라사이트y were concerned about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 authors of OER textbooks were adequately paid, whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 quality was sufficient and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 content was objective.

OER textbooks do remain limited in scope and number. OpenStax, supported by grants from sources including 바카라사이트 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, provides titles for just five introductory courses.

Never바카라사이트less, OpenStax estimates that it will save 40,000 students a collective $3.7 million this year, or an average of $92.50 per student.

It is also looking for ways to keep going once foundation support dries up. One potential avenue is to team up with for-profit providers of computer-based class assignments, which could also offer OER content for a small fee.

��Certain business models are going to be obviated and certain ones are going to arise,�� Professor Baraniuk said. ��Some will succeed and be stronger. And some will fail.��