Textbook Wars
Teaching a Mathematics Course using Open Educational Resources (OER) Andrew Misseldine Souther Utah University
5 April 2016
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
Textbook Wars
In four years of college, the average student nationally is asked to spend $4800 on textbooks alone (Hilton et al 2014).
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
Textbook Wars
In four years of college, the average student nationally is asked to spend $4800 on textbooks alone (Hilton et al 2014). Some students, then, may be forced either not to purchase textbooks or take fewer classes in order to manage or reduce college costs (Buczynski 2007).
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
A New Hope
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has defined open educational resources as: Open Educational Resources (OER) Teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
A New Hope
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has defined open educational resources as: Open Educational Resources (OER) Teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
Costs of OER Typically, an OER textbook is available digitally and can be downloaded for free. Sometimes, a printed copy is available for cost.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
Costs of OER Typically, an OER textbook is available digitally and can be downloaded for free. Sometimes, a printed copy is available for cost.
Table: Math 1050 Texts at SUU
Book
New
Used
Rental
Digital
Commercial
$247.87
$135.179
$12.00
$95.99
OER
$55.00
Andrew Misseldine
Free
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
Costs of OER Typically, an OER textbook is available digitally and can be downloaded for free. Sometimes, a printed copy is available for cost.
Table: Math 1030 Texts at SUU
Book
New
Used
Rental
Digital
Commercial
$171.83
$94.99
$37.89
$85.99
OER
$15.00
Andrew Misseldine
Free
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The shift to open textbooks is about more than just cutting costs.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The shift to open textbooks is about more than just cutting costs. Students have immediate access to course materials starting on the first day of class.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The shift to open textbooks is about more than just cutting costs. Students have immediate access to course materials starting on the first day of class. Students have easier access to their digital study materials.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The shift to open textbooks is about more than just cutting costs. Students have immediate access to course materials starting on the first day of class. Students have easier access to their digital study materials. Instructors can curate materials from multiple OER sources instead of being bound by the contents of a single textbook, thus customizing the learning experience for the students.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The shift to open textbooks is about more than just cutting costs. Students have immediate access to course materials starting on the first day of class. Students have easier access to their digital study materials. Instructors can curate materials from multiple OER sources instead of being bound by the contents of a single textbook, thus customizing the learning experience for the students. Faculty can even assign students to create updates and improvements for the textbooks.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
OER materials are just as good as Traditional materials. Several studies, including those listed below, have shown that students in classes using OER materials perform the same, on average, as students using more traditional, commercial materials. Allen, Guzman-Alvarez, Molinaro, Larsen. (2015) Fischer, Hilton, Robinson, Wiley. (2015) Bowen, Chingos, Lack, Nygren (2014) Robinson, Fischer, Wiley, Hilton (2014) Hilton, Gaudet, Clark, Robinson, Wiley (2013) Pawlyshyn, Braddlee, Casper Miller. (2013) Feldstein, Martin, Hudson, Warren, Hilton, Wiley. (2012) Hilton and Laman (2012) Lovett, Lovett, Meyer, Thille (2008) Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
An OER Experiment at SLCC
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
Anecdotal Evidence from My Own Teaching of Math 1050
Table: Exam Scores for Math 1050
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Exam 4
Final Exam
Traditional
77.7%
75.3%
68.2%
72.2%
72.0%
OER
79.4%
75.5%
74.6%
The Homework average for the OER sections is 81.6% compared to 76.9% sections using a traditional textbook.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The Publisher Strikes Back
Online, interactive homework software has been shown to improve student learning by providing immediate feedback, easy-access remediation, and course insights.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The Publisher Strikes Back
Online, interactive homework software has been shown to improve student learning by providing immediate feedback, easy-access remediation, and course insights. In the 21st century, textbook publishers are trying to stay relevant by developing online HW software, interactive etextbooks and study plans, videos, and multimedia materials.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The Return of the OER
OER software exist to support interactive homework assignment, such as MyOpenMath.org and WebWork.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The Return of the OER
OER software exist to support interactive homework assignment, such as MyOpenMath.org and WebWork. Many OER authors are partnering with commercial courseware providers, such as WebAssign, XYZ Homework, Sapling Learning, and Top Hat.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
The Return of the OER
OER software exist to support interactive homework assignment, such as MyOpenMath.org and WebWork. Many OER authors are partnering with commercial courseware providers, such as WebAssign, XYZ Homework, Sapling Learning, and Top Hat.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
OER is more than just textbooks and websites.
OER alternatives for lecture videos exist, such as Khan Academy and other YouTubers.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
OER is more than just textbooks and websites.
OER alternatives for lecture videos exist, such as Khan Academy and other YouTubers. OER alternatives for graphing calculators exist, such as Desmos.com, eMathHelp.net, and Android/iOS apps.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
OER is more than just textbooks and websites.
OER alternatives for lecture videos exist, such as Khan Academy and other YouTubers. OER alternatives for graphing calculators exist, such as Desmos.com, eMathHelp.net, and Android/iOS apps. OER alternatives to mathematical software like Matlab, Maple, Magma, Geometer’s Sketchpad, and Mathematica exist, such as SAGE, Geogebra, and Scilab.
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
Textbook Wars
A New Hope The Publisher Strikes Back The Return of the OER The Open Access Awakens
Send me a message! If you would like more information or a list of references, please email me at
[email protected] Thank you for listening!
Andrew Misseldine
Teaching Math using OER
