Who am I?
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I have taught Economics at Foothill College
for 8 years.
Like many of you, I have been concerned
about the costs of textbooks for my
students.
I adopted an online book in Summer of
2009.
Did a simple student survey in W2010 to
illustrate the potential cost savings.
Brian Evans, Economics
Traditional vs Online Textbook
Cost Comparison
Surveyed 253 Introductory Econ students:
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124 in a class using a traditional book (Colander 7th edition)
129 in a class using a free online book with option to buy
 Micro: Rittenberg & Tregarthen from Flatworld Knowledge
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Macro: Tim Taylor from TextbookMedia.
Brian Evans, Economics
Factors Controlled for…
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Class (Intro Econ)
Time (traditional times)
Timing (all surveys were given at
time of Winter 2010 final exam)
Brian Evans, Economics
Factors not controlled for…
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Instructor
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Potentially different need for /
emphasis placed on buying a text for
the class.
Brian Evans, Economics
Cost comparison
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The 124 students using traditional
textbook spent $10,867
cumulatively. An average of $87.63.
The 129 students using the online
textbook spent $3,194 cumulatively.
An average of $24.76.
Brian Evans, Economics
Perspective
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For one quarter of 4 classes of 40
students the difference is $10,060
For one year (3 quarters) +
summer this will exceed $35,000
Brian Evans, Economics
Other factors
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Cost gap would be larger if we
included drops and withdrawals.
Results could be reduced due to
bookstore buybacks – however, few
students do this: The FH bookstore
bought back a total of 8 Econ books
in the winter quarter.
Brian Evans, Economics
Did students buy the book or only use
the free online site?
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68% (88/129) bought something (ranging
from $2 for a used book to $100 for a new
book from a different author
32% (41/129) bought nothing
Finding: Most students wanted a physical copy
of the book.
Brian Evans, Economics
Of the 41 students that bought nothing...
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… how often was the online site used
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26%
28%
33%
13%
(10/39*) used online 3+ times per week
(11/39) used online weekly
(13/39) used online only to review for tests
(5/39) never used online
Finding: Students may have used the online
resource less than you might expect…
*2 of 41 did not respond to this question
Brian Evans, Economics
Were the 41 that bought nothing
satisfied?
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54% (19/35*) were happy with the online
experience and glad they did not buy the book.
46% (16/35) felt online was ok but wished they
had purchased the book
0% (0/35) felt the online experience was not
good and wished they had purchased the book.
Finding: Many that did not buy wished they had
after the fact.
*6 of 41 did not respond
Brian Evans, Economics
Of the 88 that purchased a book…
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… how often did they use the free online
site?
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3% (3/86*): 3+ / week
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15% (13/86): weekly
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21% (18/86): only for tests
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60% (52/86): never
Finding: Those that had a book hardly touched
the online site
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* 2 students did not respond to this question
Brian Evans, Economics
Pros and cons of online textbooks
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Advantages:
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Huge costs savings for students
Portability
Immediate access (great for online
classes)
Disadvantages:
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Limited text options presently
Students may choose free online option
but find it hard to read/study
Brian Evans, Economics
The assumption…
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An assumption of economics is that
if you do not paying the full costs of
an action you will tend to discount
the costs of that action.
With textbooks the teacher makes
the decision but the student pays
the costs.
Brian Evans, Economics
The question…
If you were going pay the full costs of
books for your students one term …
would you
a.
b.
buy a traditional book for ≈ $11,000
buy an online book for ≈ $3,000
Brian Evans, Economics