Open Textbooks: “Student and Faculty Perceptions of OpenStax in High Enrollment Courses

The following article was recently published in the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning.
Title
Student and Faculty Perceptions of OpenStax in High Enrollment Courses
Authors
C. Edward Watson
Association of American Colleges and Universities
Sherry A. Clouser
University System of Georgia
Denise P. Domizi,
University of Georgia
Source
International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning
Volume 18, Number 5
Abstract

As public funding for higher education decreases and the cost to students to attend college increases, universities are searching for strategies that save students money while also increasing their chances for success. Using free online textbooks is one such strategy, and the OpenStax College initiative at Rice University is one of the most widely recognized producers of such materials. Through a mixed method approach, this article examines the student and faculty experiences of adopting and using an OpenStax textbook. With 1,299 student participants, it was found that students greatly value the quality, attributes, and the cost of the OpenStax Biology textbook, though minor concerns were raised about its online format. Faculty adoption of a free textbook provides unique opportunities for course redesign and improvement, and the approach employed in this course transformation context resulted in clearly articulated learning outcomes, a fully realized structure in the course’s learning management system, and improvements to instructional practice. The student, faculty, and course benefits of this study offer a compelling argument for the adoption of high quality open education resources (OER) in public higher education contexts.

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