Open Educational Resources: Open Textbooks

Textbooks cost students on average $1200 a year. The cost of textbooks is rising more than four times faster than inflation.

Academic Impact

Textbooks have become so expensive that 65% of students report having foregone purchasing the textbook; 94% of those say that they suffered academically because of it. 

Faculty routinely report that even for students who choose to get the textbook, they often have to wait until their financial aid comes in, which means that they do not have the textbook for the crucial first module or two of the course. 

Economic Impact

The cost of textbooks is one contributor to the problem of unaffordable higher education. The cost of higher education in the United States is becoming a barrier to degree completion and a drag on graduates who have large student loans to pay off. 

Traditional

Apart from being Open Educational Resources that are free for students to use and free for faculty to remix, these are indistinguishable from regular textbooks. They are often in PDF format. Print on demand may be available.

Authors can be identified who are responsible for the content. May be peer reviewed.

Modular

Very much like a traditional open textbook, except that the content can be rearranged and intermixed from multiple sources on a platform, such as Lumen Learning. A PDF version is often available. Print on demand may be available.

Authors can be identified who are responsible for the content. May be peer reviewed.

Wiki

Often created from student and faculty collaborations, and continually being updated and refined. 

Authorial responsibility and peer review vary considerably.