Maryland Awards 21 Grants To Prepare 'Open Source' Textbooks (usmd.edu)

"The University System of Maryland has awarded 21 "mini grants" to university faculty to "help them expand open education resources," reports OpenSource.com. Recipients of the grants are also given time off to prepare courses that use open textbooks, and will receive personalized support and training on effective course design. An anonymous reader writes: "Although our faculty view textbooks as essential, some of our students see them as a luxury they cannot afford," said Community College of Baltimore County President Sandra Kurtinitis. "Having access to open educational resources will provide some financial relief for our students as well as contribute to their academic success." The cost of textbooks has risen 812% since 1978, the school system said in an announcement, "outpacing even the cost of medical services and new housing. Nationally, students spend an average of $1,200 a year on textbooks."

The Maryland Open Source Textbook initiative started in 2013 "to provide a state-wide opportunity for faculty to explore the promise of open education resources to reduce students' cost of attendance while maintaining, or perhaps even improving, learning outcomes." Since then it's helped replace traditional textbooks in over 60 different courses at 14 public institutions across the state, resulting in a cumulative cost savings of over $1 million for 3,500 students. "In addition to saving students money, faculty have gained the ability to adapt and customize their instructional materials to ensure they are aligned with their pedagogical methods to best meet their students' needs," the school system reports. "In follow up surveys with students participating in the MOST initiative, 93% reported that the open educational resource content they used was the same or better quality than traditional textbooks."

Comments

Maybe they should just reduce their fees

[Anonymous Coward]

Textbooks probably wouldn't be viewed as a luxury if the U.S universities and colleges didn't work out how the absolute maximum they could squeeze out of students and their families in tuition and fees and then charge them that.

Seriously inflated statistics

[chrism238]

"Nationally, students spend an average of $1,200 a year on textbooks" - this claim is extremely difficult to believe. Given the 'ready' availability of most common textbooks as PDFs or ePubs via the internet, and even their solutions manuals, where are all these honest fools spending over $1000/yr on textbooks? There's certainly not seen in classrooms.

The real solution..

[thesupraman]

While this is a good step, the REAL solution is to stop requiring a new edition of the textbook almost annually.

THIS is the huge scam that has created this trap for students. There is almost zero reason for these new additions, however courses often REQUIRE and actually check for them (and often have included coursework, its own scam..).

The problem? This means there is no market for the books second hand!
By allowing a collusion between publishers and courses to effectively kill second hand use of the books, we end up in this situation.

So, just REQUIRE textbooks to have a minimum 5 year life (could easily be 10 years in many subjects).
Refuse any textbooks that are 'licensed' (including non-transferable electronic versions).
Problem solved!

Wont ever happen, people are making too much money screwing over the students, who are too young and green to avoid it.

Re:The real solution..

[El Cubano]

I fear that: a) you don't have any experience teaching at the university level; and, b) you don't actually understand the problem. Let me try to educate you.

First, I teach a course at a large public university. I work full time as consultant/developer and I teach a single course as an adjunct. My motivation for doing it, you ask? I thought it would be fun and my fondest memories of my undergraduate education were three adjunct professors who were experienced industry professionals and taught only a single course: their courses were far and away the most enjoyable and relevant to me. I wanted to do something similar, to "give back," if you will.

I was handed an already developed upper division course (the previous professor had retired about the time I was hired) that covers advanced Java programming and business IT system design, so I only had to do some light/moderate updates to the course to suit my preferences and my vision for how the course would go. My total compensation: US$ ~3000/semester, for 3 hours lecture per week + 2-3 hours lecture prep per week + 2-3 hours grading per week + 2-3 hours assisting students per week (call it 10 hours per week for 14 weeks and we won't count the time I spend prior to the start of each semester getting things ready), or 140 hours over 3.5 months, or about $20/hour. As a reference, my consulting rate is right around $200/hour.

That said, I will now address your specific statements.

While this is a good step, the REAL solution is to stop requiring a new edition of the textbook almost annually.

Believe me, I have tried to stick with an older edition of my course text. The course I teach covers Java and I did not like the book the previous professor used. I did a couple of weeks of research prior to my first time teaching the course and found that there were no other decent alternatives that covered all the topics needed for the course. I was unwilling to require two or three books, so I stuck with one mediocre book at $60. That book is only four years old and I have already been getting complaints from students about how outdated it is. It has nothing on JavaFX, nothing on Java 8, etc.

THIS is the huge scam that has created this trap for students. There is almost zero reason for these new additions, however courses often REQUIRE and actually check for them (and often have included coursework, its own scam..).

Well, when I teach we all have to be in agreement about certain things. While some text books do not need to change much (I'm pretty sure algebra is the same now as it was 5 years ago), others do need to change. Java is a great example. A 5 year old Java textbook is not a good fit for my class. Remember, I am not teaching CS fundamentals here (those are probably the same as they were 20 years ago). By the way, every additional hour I spend developing course material lowers the effective hourly rate I am being paid by the university. So, since I am already teaching for 10% of what I normally charge a consulting client, I am not looking to maximize the time I spend doing what amounts to unpaid coursework development.

The problem? This means there is no market for the books second hand!

By allowing a collusion between publishers and courses to effectively kill second hand use of the books, we end up in this situation.

I can tell you that I most certainly do not collude with the publishers. The only "benefit" (if you want to call it that) I get is that as a faculty member I can request a free evaluation copy and they will likely provide it. Their expectation is, I'm sure, that I will select their book and they will get a few hundred sales. Still, for some courses, there is an amazingly limited selection for textbooks, which puts the faculty and students somewhat at the mercy of the publishers and/or authors.

So, just REQUIRE textbooks to have a minimum 5 year life (co

You need a bit of critical thinking here

[thesupraman]

Sorry, but you are completely wrong about student loans.

I know its very 'fashionable' to harp on that you should be able to drop them like a hot potato the week you graduate, but that would be a disaster, and in no way addresses the root problem.
Why a disaster? Because graduates are graduates. A large number of them would see this as a free lunch, and jump on it, declaring bankrupcy just to clear the debt (after all, they have almost nothing to lose here..), and THEN starting building their carreer with a problem. The 'punishments' of a bankrupcy will be of little consequence to them for the immediate future.
Therefore such risk in such loans will skyrocket, and availability will collapse, and interest rates will skyrocket.
We would immediately see a backlash from THE VERY PEOPLE WHO WANT THIS, claiming 'only the rich can now get an education!' and we will be back to square one.

The ACTUAL problem is the bullshit worldview that everyone needs a degree. THIS is what pushes demand to stupid levels, and created this whole problem in the first place.
Any sane education system has (and has respect for..) universities, technical institutes, apprenticeships, on job training, and just good old 'getting a job' as perfectly valid paths. THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE. Only the more intellectual 5% should ever be going to university, and having the other 80% there only harms those top thinkers by holding them back in a sea of mediocrity. Everyone else should be pursuing much less expensive, quicker, and more useful trade training.

But no, we need to be inclusive, no ones feelings can be hurt, everyone MUST have a degree to prove what a unique and special snowflake they are.

THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem.

Smoke and Mirrors

[chill]

Open source textbooks, reference material, and study guides are plentiful. Used textbooks are cheap. Amazon has a great service providing them.

Colleges and Universities frequently require the use of online, "digital learning systems", like Cengage. Access to that site, where the homework is, requires a subscription code that can be hundreds of dollars. A textbook without the "online access code" is a doorstop.

If schools are serious about this, they need to start pushing the use of Moodle instead of Blackboard, and providing high quality open source content including lesson plans, homework, and textbooks.