Low and No-Cost Materials

Students spend, on average, somewhere between $900 (Fischer, et. al. 2015) and $1270 (Martin, et. al. 2017) per year on college textbooks.  Student surveys regularly show that students make decisions about which courses to take based on materials cost (Martin, et. al. 2017) or may choose not to buy a textbook that is too expensive even knowing that it will negatively impact their academic success (STCC 2021, Stein, et. al. 2017). 

Studies have suggested that use of open education resources (OER), which are free to use, correlate to a decrease in withdrawal rates (Delgado, et. al. 2019).  Students and faculty both report that OER materials are generally as high in quality as commercial publisher materials.  Students report that they have been able to enroll in courses specifically due to the use of OER materials and that they have been able to enroll in increased units due to the adoption of OER materials in some of the courses in which they enrolled.

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• RESEARCH

  Examine selected research on affordable learning solutions:

  Fischer, L., Hilton, J., Robinson, T.J., Wiley, D.  (2015).  A multi-dimensional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students.  Journal of computing in higher education. https://link-springer-com.mantis.csuchico.edu/article/10.1007/s12528-015-9101-x#citeas(opens in new window)

  Feldstein, A., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton, J., Wiley, D.  (2012).  Open textbooks and increased student access and outcomes.  European journal of open, distance, and e-learning.  2. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ992490(opens in new window)

  Martin, M. T., Belikov, O. M., Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Fischer, L.  (2017).  Analysis of student and faculty perceptions of textbook costs in higher education.  Open praxis.  9(1) 79-91. https://openpraxis.org/articles/10.5944/openpraxis.9.1.432(opens in new window)

  Stein, S., Hart, S., Keaney, P., White, R.  (2017).  Student views on the cost of and access to textbooks: An investigation at University of Otago (New Zealand).  Open praxis.  9(4) 403-419. https://openpraxis.org/articles/10.5944/openpraxis.9.4.704(opens in new window)

  Delgado, H., Delgado, M., Hilton, J.  (2019).  On the efficacy of open educational resources: Parametric and nonparametric analyses of a university calculus class.  International review of research in open and distributed learning.  20(1) 184-203. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3892(opens in new window)

  CLinton, V., Khan, S.  (2019).  Efficacy of open textbook adoption on learning performance and course withdrawal rates: A meta-analysis.  AERA Open.  American Educational Research Association.  Retrieved March 29, 2021 from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332858419872212(opens in new window)

• APPLICATION

  Ready to apply affordable learning solutions to your teaching? Here are some ideas and strategies to get you started:

  The following suggestions come from our own Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$(opens in new window)) page.

  1. Compile reading lists by creating a course packet (the bookstore can help you coordinate copyright clearance and printing)
  2. If you have the time and, perhaps more importantly, the motivation to create your own free materials, author your own! 
     1. Consider a step-by-step approach where you replace single activities or units over multiple semesters until you have replaced all higher cost materials.
  3. Research lower cost versions of materials that you already use.
  4. Explore openstax(opens in new window) or Libretexts(opens in new window) and consider replacing a publisher text for one of your courses.
     1. Other OER repositories(opens in new window) are linked through the CAL$ page

  Read through the ways to decrease the costs of your courses materials outlined on the CAL$ page and choose one strategy not already listed above that you would like to use to decrease materials cost of one or more of your courses.