Affordable and Open Textbooks: An Exploratory Study of Faculty Attitudes. Research & Occasional Paper Series. CSHE.9.09

Autor/inn/en	Harley, Diane; Lawrence, Shannon; Acord, Sophia Krzys; Dixson, Jason
Institution	University of California, Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education
Titel	Affordable and Open Textbooks: An Exploratory Study of Faculty Attitudes. Research & Occasional Paper Series. CSHE.9.09
Quelle	(2009), (21 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Student Needs; Student Attitudes; Textbooks; Interest Research; Focus Groups; Researchers; Educational Resources; College Faculty; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Surveys; Shared Resources and Services; Electronic Publishing; Student Costs; California + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Schülerverhalten; Textbook; Text book; Schulbuch; Lehrbuch; Interessenforschung; Researcher; Forscher; Bildungsmittel; Fakultät; Lehrerverhalten; Gemeinwirtschaft; Elektronisches Publizieren; Studienkosten; Kalifornien
Abstract	The Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGs)--who have been at the forefront of raising awareness about textbook affordability for much of the past decade--launched a two-year campaign (MakeTextbooksAffordable.org/statement) in 2007 to drive mainstream faculty's acceptance of open textbooks and other affordable alternatives in place of traditional textbooks. University of California (UC) Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education was awarded a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, via the Student PIRGs, to conduct an independent, objective, and exploratory analysis of the campaign using an online survey and focus groups. The researchers also more generally addressed faculty perceptions about affordability and open textbooks. Their results show that faculty want a diversity of choices. They are independent thinkers, exceptionally busy, suffer from extreme information overload, are generally dedicated to ensuring their students' success, and do not take well to "one size fits all" solutions. Regarding the demand for open textbooks, there simply are not enough currently available in enough disciplines to satisfy the multitude of faculty and student needs in lower and upper division courses; a much wider array of high-quality, easy-to-use, and reliable open textbooks will have to be produced for more widespread faculty adoption to be realized. Even then, open textbooks will likely be only one of many players in the curricular materials market. A single, predetermined solution (e.g.,"open textbooks" or "open educational resources") and such jargon may very well work against the Open Educational Resource (OER) movement and faculty's willingness to explore new options. Finally, the researchers strongly recommend that a wide range of faculty (and student) input be considered essential to any conversation about the future of textbook affordability. Survey Instrument is appended. (Contains 11 footnotes and 8 tables.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Center for Studies in Higher Education. University of California, Berkeley, 771 Evans Hall #4650, Berkeley, CA 94720-4650. Tel: 510-642-5040; Fax: 510-643-6845; e-mail: cshe@berkeley.edu; Web site: http://cshe.berkeley.edu/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10