It is no secret that textbooks are expensive and their costs continue to rise. A North Greenville student can easily spend $1,000 per year on textbooks alone. Unfortunately, the cost of textbooks often leads to students making decisions that can lead to poor learning outcomes. Open textbooks can greatly reduce the cost of textbooks for students and help improve scores and retention. In fact, studies conducted at Virginia State University and Houston Community College showed that students who used open textbooks tended to have higher grades and a lower withdrawal rate than students who used traditional textbooks (Sources at the bottom of the page). The chart below is from a 2016 survey done in Florida about student textbooks. Further information about the survey can be found here.
This poster, created by the CAUL - CBUA Scholarly Communications Committee, describes the process of evaluating and adopting an open textbook for your classroom.
Hilton III, J., & Laman, C. 2012. One college’s use of an open psychology textbook. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 27(3), 265-272.
Feldstein, A., Martin, M., Hudson, A., Warren, K., Hilton III, J., & Wiley, D. 2012. Open Textbooks and Increased Student Access and Outcomes. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning.