Savings without sacrifice: A case report on open-source textbook adoption

Rising textbook costs have prompted the development of open-source textbooks to increase access to education. The purpose of this case report is to examine open-source textbook adoption through the COUP framework (costs, outcomes, use, and perceptions) comparing a semester with a commercial textbook to a semester with an open-source textbook. Students (N = 520) were enrolled in an undergraduate course at a mid-sized public university in the United States. Results indicated that although costs were substantially lower, student learning outcomes and perceptions of quality were similar or better with an open-source textbook. Although students were much more likely to access the open-source textbook electronically, there were no differences in how they reported using the two textbooks to support their learning. Considering the financial savings of open-source textbooks, these findings build on existing empirical support that encourage the adoption of open-source textbooks.

Eight Patterns of Open Textbook Adoption in British Columbia

Since the launch of the BC Open Textbook Project in 2012, the adoption of open textbooks has steadily grown within public post-secondary institutions in British Columbia, Canada. An analysis of adoption records over a five-year period reveals that open textbooks have been adopted across all types of institutions, including research universities, teaching universities, colleges, and institutes, and across a diverse set of disciplines, with the largest numbers in the sciences and social sciences. In this report we identify, describe, and illustrate eight distinct patterns of open textbook adoption. These are: stealth adoption, adoption by infection, committee adoption, sanctioned exceptional adoption, course developer adoption, infection by inter-institutional carrier, creation and adoption, and lone adoption. While these patterns are not intended to be exhaustive, we hope that identifying these patterns provides a useful framework for campus leaders to (a) understand how adoptions occur in their own contexts, (b) identify ways to support further adoptions, (c) recognize that there are multiple ways, and no single path, to supporting the adoption of educational innovations at their institutions, and (d) foster the embrace of wider open educational practices.

Influence of usage of e-books, online educational materials, and other programming books and students’ profiles on adoption of printed programming textbooks

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of students’ profiles and the usage of e-books, online educational materials, and other programming books on the adoption of printed programming textbooks for computing students. It was hypothesized that the predictor variable set could not explain any of the variance of the dependent variables. Design/methodology/approach This descriptive study utilized a content-validated questionnaire. The study involved 190 student participants. Canonical correlation analysis was employed to determine whether students’ profiles and use, perceived usefulness, and preference of e-books, online educational materials, and other programming books explained any variance in printed programming textbook adoption. Findings Printed programming textbook adoption could be explained by two functions. The first function revealed that the use and the perceived usefulness of textbooks were positively influenced by the use of e-books and other programming books and by the perceived usefulness of e-books, fora/blogs, other programming books, and YouTube. The second function revealed that the use of printed programming textbooks alone was positively influenced by the use of e-books and other programming books but was negatively influenced by the perceived usefulness of programming websites and YouTube and by the preference of programming websites over textbooks. Originality/value The study provided empirical evidence that e-books, other programming books, and online educational materials provide additional resources to students. Thus, e-books, online educational materials, and other programming books complement, rather than threaten, the existence of printed programming textbooks.