When it comes to textbooks, we can do better for our students.
- The College Board estimates that the average student can expect to pay $1200 for textbooks and supplies in 2013-14.
- The cost of textbooks is rising at a rate of 4 times inflation.
- 7 out of 10 students do not purchase a required textbook during their academic career because of cost.
- 60% of students have delayed purchasing textbooks until they received their financial aid.
- The high cost of some course materials can impede students’ academic success.
At this event we discussed how educators are using open textbooks to address these issues. It's becoming increasingly apparent that we can significantly lower costs while maintaining (even improving) the quality of students' academic experiences.
Open Textbooks
Open textbooks can help alleviate the burden of textbook costs for students and provide faculty with content that can be customized for their course. Open textbooks are full, real textbooks, used by many faculty across the country, and licensed to be freely used, edited, and distributed.
Our Partner
David Ernst is the Chief Information Officer in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He brings his extensive background in education to his role, with 14 years teaching and a PhD in Learning Technology. His passion lies in innovations that help faculty teach and students learn.
David is the Executive Director of the Open Textbook Network. This program works to improve higher education access, affordability, and success for all students. Through this initiative, David created and manages the Open Textbook Library--a single source for faculty to find quality openly licensed textbooks. David and his colleagues are also developing a toolkit to help other institutions interested in starting their own open textbook initiative on campus.