E-Textbooks
Robin Donaldson, Director, Open Access Textbooks
Project and Project Manager, The Orange Grove
David Nelson, Project Manager, Open Access
Textbooks Project
Overview
Florida Distance Learning Consortium (FDLC)
 Open Access Textbooks Project
Providing Access
 Orange Grove Texts Plus (OGT+)
Assuring Quality and Print Versions
 University Press of Florida (UPF)
Legislation
Library’s role
Definitions
E-textbooks (electronic textbooks)
Digital textbooks
Open access textbooks
Open textbooks
E-textbooks & Digital textbooks
 An educational or instructional book in digital form
 May or may not have print version
Electronic book which offers various interactive functions
and multimedia contents
 E-textbooks, digital textbooks = commercial products
Open textbooks
1. …freely available through an open license that permits users
to: read, download, copy, distribute, self-print, search, or link
to the full texts without financial, legal or technical barriers.
2. In addition, students may often be able to order a
commercially bound print-on-demand copy at a modest cost.
3. Freely accessible digital textbooks that can be read online,
downloaded, and self-printed at no or low cost.
Utah - open textbooks in Language Arts, Science, and Mathematics
at a cost of $5 per textbook
Students focused on cost. What’s missing?
Open textbook licensing
Commercial publishers usually own copyright and
reserve all printing or duplication rights.
Open textbook authors retain their copyright instead of
selling it and may apply limited rights to textbook use.
Basic Conditions
Provide attribution to author(s)
 Non-commercial purposes
Optional Conditions
Add, remove, or alter content
(derivative works) – CC BY-ND
Derivative works must offer the same
license (share alike) CC BY-SA
Use of the textbook commercially –
CC BY-NC
Florida Distance
Learning
Consortium
The Orange Grove
Open Access
Textbook Project
The Open Access Textbooks Project
Purpose: Create sustainable model for open textbook
initiatives
Financial support: Fund for the Improvement of
Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
Method: Surveys, webinars, symposium
Product: The Model
Open Textbook Priorities
accessible
adaptable
affordable
Primary and Secondary Stakeholders
Students
Faculty
(and Parents)
(and Staff)
Florida Higher
Education
Leaders
Executive &
Legislative
Leaders
Institutional
Leaders
Citizens
Faculty Open Access Textbook Survey
Florida Public Postsecondary Faculty
and Administrators
43% College
57% University
90.4% Faculty
9.6% Administrators
• Conducted Fall, 2009
• n = 2,707
• Currently being repeated
Faculty Familiarity with Open Access Textbooks
Familiar with Open
All Institutions
Universities
Colleges
Access Textbooks?
N
Percent
N
Percent
N
Percent
Not at All
1400
52.1%
807
52.9%
595
50.9%
Somewhat familiar
1088
40.5%
599
39.3%
496
42.5%
Very Familiar
197
7.3%
119
7.8%
77
6.6%
Total
2685
100%
1525
100%
1168
100%
How many faculty respondents had ever used
open access materials?
Colleges: 10.8%
Universities: 12.9%
Majority of this group had used “other” open access supplementary materials
Administrators reported higher rates of use of all
types of open access materials
Ranking of Factors Influencing Decision
to Use Open Access Materials
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Academic quality
Time to find, review and select
Knowledge about
Desire to reduce costs to students
Hardware, software to facilitate use
Tenure and Promotion: Barrier to
Development of Digital Educational Materials
OERs and open textbooks are not widely accepted as
scholarly works for determining promotion and tenure.
Medical OER Meeting
• First meeting - Confirmed OER inclusion in promotion
& tenure consideration a barrier to development by
faculty
• Funding and sustaining OERs & open textbooks
Florida Student
Textbook Survey Data
Students overwhelmingly said – let me choose how to
interact with my instructional materials.
Approximately 70% want the opportunity to buy a print
textbook, but also want the opportunity to
download it to one or more devices.
• Survey closed December 12, 2010
• n = 14,007
• Public, post-secondary students
BUY NEW OR USED BOOKS FROM NON-CAMPUS SOURCE
BUY USED COPIES FROM CAMPUS BOOKSTORE
SELL USED BOOKS
SHARE BOOKS
DO NOT PURCHASE TEXTBOOK
RENT
“E” VERSION
LIBRARY
SEARCH
TIME AVAILABLE FOR USE
SELF-PRINT
HIGHLIGHTING
COMMERCIAL BOOK
COPY AND PASTE
ADD NOTES
The cost of required textbooks has caused me to -
PRACTICE QUESTIONS 87.9%
POWERPOINT 59.7%
INTERACTIVE 45.5%
VIDEO 43.1%
Would you be willing to pay between $5 and $10 for
every open textbook you use?
NO 10.9%
MAYBE 40.3%
YES 47.2%
Summary of Identified Issues
1. Faculty have difficulty finding open textbooks
2. Quality is #1 priority for both faculty and student
leaders when selecting or using textbook
3. 89% of student survey respondents indicate that
practice problems improve their grades
4. 70% of students want to be able to purchase a
commercial print edition at low cost.
Addressing Issues
WebAssign
OG Repository
University
Press
of Florida
POD Publisher
Solution to Identified Need:
faculty have difficulty finding
open textbooks
Florida’s digital repository for instructional resources
Goals of The Orange Grove:
 Provide a means for educators to share resources
 Increase opportunities for Florida educators to incorporate
open educational resources (OER) into curricula
 Increase access to OERs from around the world
 Provide training and support for educators to find, use,
and create OERs
Provides:
File Storage and URLs for open textbooks
Metadata = Discoverability
Access




Download
Purchase commercial print copy
Link to
Self-print
Metadata in The Orange Grove
Examples of metadata

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Title
Author
Description
Date contributed
Comments & Ratings
ERIC, MeSH, GEM, Common Core
Standards, Common Course Numbers
Orange Grove Collections
Collections open to the public:
 Orange Grove
 Open Textbooks
 Harvested Resources
Harvesting Open Textbooks
InTech – STEM textbooks and books
Connexions – Open Textbook K-20
CK-12 - Open textbooks for K-12
The University Press of Florida
Solution to Identified Need:
Quality is #1 priority for both
faculty and student leaders
when selecting or using
textbook
The University Press of Florida
Highly recognized and regarded scholarship
dissemination for state
Acquisitions: select and guide textbook projects
Development: editing, design, index, ISBN, proof,
print, marketing, sales
Distribution: bookstores (malls and campus)
University Press Open Textbook Consortium
In 2011, UPF Director Meredith Babb convened reps
from 21 University Presses (US, Canada, and The
Netherlands)
Goal: “Each participating University Press will provide
at least one acceptable, peer-reviewed, open access
text for use throughout the country/world.”
Focus: Textbook and business model
Solution to Identified Need:
89% of student survey
respondents indicate that
practice problems improve
their grades

Independent Company in Raleigh, NC - ww.webassign.net

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Dynamic online homework system with feedback
Automatically graded, tracked assignments
Multiple question types
Tools to enter mathematical and chemical notation
Embed links to open textbook content, videos, tutorials
Offer instructors the ability to embed personal content
(questions, notes, videos)
Print-On-Demand Publisher (POD)
Solution to Identified Need:
70% of students want to be
able to purchase a
commercial print edition at
low cost
Print-On-Demand Publisher (POD)
 Low cost
 On-line commerce
 Quality commercial book
 Minimum order = 1 and no maximum order limits
 0-48 hour turn around
 Multiple print locations around the world
Assuring Quality and Print Versions
OGT+ YouTube Video
E-Textbook & Open Textbook Initiatives and
Legislation
• California
• Florida
• Indiana
• Ohio
• Utah
• Washington
Florida SB 2120
Transition to electronic and digital instructional
material pilot program
Electronic or digital textbooks by 2015-16
Pilot programs authorized between 2011-2015
After each year, districts report:


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Successful practices
Lessons learned
Level of investment and cost-effectiveness
Impacts on student performance
California Proposed Legislation
Bill 1: Digital Open Source Textbooks



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Produce 50 high quality open textbooks and related materials
Bidding open to publishers, faculty, and other interested parties
CC BY license
$25,000,000
Bill 2: California Digital Open Source Library
 Create a statewide repository for open textbooks and related
materials
 Provide incentives to faculty for choosing lower cost alternatives
such as open textbooks and related teaching tools
 Require publishers to provide free copies of textbooks to
campus libraries to be placed on reserve
Ohio’s Digital Bookshelf Initiative
Aim: Quality options for faculty and better learning
outcomes and savings for students using state licensing
& state books
Introduction to Psychology – 23 digital texts from
Cengage, McGraw Hill, Worth, Wiley, and Pearson
24 institutions participated
Example savings to students in one term:
 U. of Cincinnati - 500 students - $62,000 savings
 OSU - 45 students - $2,500 savings (print /list price)
 Ohio U. Eastern - 0 students
Indiana University
Spring 2012 eTexts Initiative
 Agreements with publishers and Courseload
 130 class sections, 5,300 students
 Cost-saving deals with publishers save $25/book or online
supplement
 $100,000 total savings over similar offerings
 More options for printing and long-term use
Piloted in 2009, it is now available to faculty at all
campuses
Washington State
Open Course Library
 State Board of Community and Technical Colleges
 Complete course materials for the 81 highest enrollment courses for
$30 or less, open licensed
 First 42 courses released for Spring 2012
 Remaining 41 courses due in 2013
 Funded by the Washington State Legislature and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation
House Bill 2337 Regarding Open Educational Resources in K-12
Education
 Allocates 1.5% of curriculum and textbooks funds for development of
openly licensed courseware
 Would builds on work of CK-12 and other openly licensed textbooks
and open educational resources
More Washington Legislation
House Bill 2336 - Requiring a model policy for open
licensing of courseware developed with state funds.
 Requires the Washington state school
directors‘ association … to convene an advisory committee
to develop a model policy for the open licensing of
courseware developed with state funds.
Utah
Office of Education: develop & support open textbooks
Secondary curriculum areas:
 Language Arts
 Science
 Mathematics
Office of Education will encourage districts to adopt
Pilot program of 3,800 science students - $5/print book
Books updated as needed, not on publisher schedule
The Library’s Role
What is it?
FDLC Presents:
Developing a Digital Textbook Strategy for Your Campus
February 8, 2012 | Lake Mary, Florida
Keynote: Diane Harley, UC Berkeley
Institutional Models:
 Rhonda Epper, Colorado Community College System
 Brad Wheeler, University of Indiana
State Models:
 Steve Acker, Ohio Digital Bookshelf
 Tom Caswell, Washington State
Faculty Perspectives
Publisher Voice
Comparing Pathways – Support and Sustainability Models
Register: www.fldlc.org and see Digital Textbook Symposium
Contact Information
Robin Donaldson
rdonaldson@distancelearn.org
(850) 922-3107
David Nelson
dnelson@distancelearn.org
(850) 921-2796
Florida Distance Learning Consortium
1753 West Paul Dirac Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32310
florida.theorangegrove.org
openaccesstextbooks.org