[BOAI] Taking a Bite Out of Textbook Costs: Open Education Initiative Grants Save Students more than $70, 000

[Peter Suber]

[Forwarding from the U of Massachusetts Amherst.  --Peter Suber.]

*UMass Amherst Libraries *

*Press Release*

*12/1/11*

*Taking a Bite Out of Textbook Costs** *

*Open Education Initiative grants save students more than $70,000*

*Amherst, MA -* The high cost of commercial textbooks, both print and
electronic, is a major concern for today’s students and their parents.  In
an effort to reduce these costs, the UMass Amherst Provost’s Office and the
University Libraries launched a program in the spring of 2011—the Open
Education Initiative—that supports faculty interested in pursuing
non-traditional educational resources as an alternative to the traditional
commercial textbook.

Eight faculty members were awarded a total of 10 grants, $1,000 per course,
to adopt a new curricular resource strategy using easily identified digital
resources.  Under the program, faculty developed a variety of alternatives,
from creating an online open access lab manual to utilizing e-books and
streaming media available through the Libraries’ numerous databases.  In
support of this initiative, librarians developed a comprehensive subject
guide to open educational
resources.<http://guides.library.umass.edu/content.php?pid=87648&sid=1714807>

During the 2011-2012 academic year, it is estimated this $10,000 investment
will save 700 students more than $72,000 – money that would have been spent
on commercial textbooks for these courses.

“These savings are recurring for each time the courses are offered, and
directly benefit the very real and very tight budgets of our undergraduate
and graduate students,” says Provost  James V. Staros. ****


Jay Schafer, Director of Libraries, noted that the grants span the breadth
of the university’s offerings, from the College of Humanities and Fine Arts
and the School of Education to Isenberg School of Management and College of
Natural Sciences.  “These grants illustrate the essential role the
Libraries play in providing excellent educational resources and innovative
approaches to curriculum support for the students and faculty of the
campus.”****

** **

Hoping to double the program’s success, Staros and Schafer, collaborating
with the Office of Academic Computing and the Center for Teaching and
Faculty Development, have funded 20 more grants to be awarded to faculty
keen on developing similar sources for courses they teach in the 2012-2013
academic year.

Professor of Environmental Conservation Charles Schweik received two grants
under the first round of awards for his courses “Natural Resource Policy
and Administration” and “Introduction to Geographic Information Systems.”
For one course, Schweik took his own work and published it in an open
access format.  Students can now view the coursepack for free online or
receive a printed copy for just $13.  Schweik said he had wanted to achieve
such a system for some time, and the grants gave him the opportunity.  “I
believe in the importance of attainable resources,” says Schweik.

Chris Hewes, a student of Professor Schweik, welcomes the initiative, “I
didn’t have to spend money on expensive textbooks or deal with the stress
of finding materials online to ship to my dorm after classes started.”

Marilyn Billings, the Libraries’ Scholarly Communication and Special
Initiatives Librarian, believes the eventual goal is “to open education
resources worldwide ... to make them accessible to anyone, anywhere.”

Contact: Marilyn Billings, Scholarly Communication and Special Initiatives
Librarian (mbillings at library.umass.edu; (413) 545-6891).  For more
information, visit:  http://bit.ly/umassoei.****

**


Leslie Schaler ****

Communication Program Coordinator
Development and Communication Department ****

Room 415
W.E.B. Du Bois Library ****

UMass Amherst
154 Hicks Way
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA  01003
(413) 545-0162

****

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