Future of textbooks increasingly looks digital
Students and teachers in some University of Georgia introductory biology courses experimented with using a free digital textbook instead of expensive paper texts in fall 2013 courses, and liked it.
About 86 percent of nearly 700 students surveyed after the courses said their online textbook was as good as or better than a traditional paper textbook.
But that experiment was just a fraction of what’s coming, according to
Houston Davis, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of the University System of Georgia.
People in the university system and at many of its colleges have developed free online texts and other “open educational resources” for years, but the University System last year launched a more systematic initiative administrators dubbed “Affordable Learning Georgia.”
The state Board of Regents, the appointed body overseeing Georgia’s 30 public colleges and universities, approved $2.5 million for the initiative. It includes more than textbooks; another feature is an effort to get bookstores to guarantee the lowest prices possible on books.
But free digital textbooks and other “online educational resources” may have the largest effect.
Davis expects students to save a lot more than that $2.5 million this year alone in what they spend on textbooks
One goal this year has been developing free online materials for courses in the system’s so-called eCore classes — 26 basic college courses students in any state public college can take online, such as college algebra, calculus and the first courses in chemistry, philosophy and world history.
Professors at colleges across the state could get small grants to develop online course materials, and many took advantage of the opportunity — enough to come up with digital materials that students can use for no additional charge in 22 of those 26 courses, he said.
“We’re far beyond what I expected in the first year,” he said.
University system students will spend $2.7 million less this year on textbooks for e-Core courses, and will save an additional $6.4 million in other courses that are not part of the eCore, he said.
In the UGA survey, conducted nearly two years ago, more than half the students said they average spending more than $300 per semester on textbooks; one in five said they spent more than $400. But many said they often don’t bother to even buy the required textbooks — often, they’re unnecessary to pass a course, they said.
A second goal is to develop online textbooks and other online materials for the 50 courses with the highest enrollments (not only online, but in regular classrooms) across the university system,
Things are moving so fast Davis is now thinking about a more ambitious goal — the 100 most popular courses.
“Whether or not we can get to the top 100 courses in some way, I don’t know, but that’s the goal,” he said.
At some point, it may become impractical to develop online texts and resource materials because enrollments just won’t be large enough to justify the investment, he said.
Students in some of University of North Georgia professor Mark Goodroe’s algebra classes didn’t have to buy textbooks this spring.
Instead, they could use parts of open textbooks developed at other universities.
Some of the system grants go to professors who are actually writing digital textbooks, but the approach Goodroe and some of this colleagues have taken is to not reinvent the wheel.
Faculty members at other colleges and universities have already written digital algebra textbooks, so the University of North Georgia instructors have adapted those textbooks for their students’ use.
College professors generally are free to choose the texts students should use in their classes, but Goodroe expects to see more and more math classes use free online textbooks and course materials.
“They don’t have all the glamour that commercial textbooks have,” he said — online materials may not have the graphs, pictures and other bells and whistles a commercial textbook would have. Professors have to provide the “embellishments” he said.
They not only save money for the students, but can be more convenient — students can pull up their textbooks in a coffee shop or wherever they are.
“I believe it’s going to be the future of delivering content to students, especially for these kinds of courses,” he said.
In a history course, a professor might want his students to read a certain author whose work is copyrighted and not available in a free online version, he said.
“It is a bit of a paradigm shift,” he said — many students, and professors as well, are used to paper.
University of North Georgia faculty members in chemistry and education also got university system grants to create digital texts for 10 courses overall. They estimate that about 2,800 students will save $1 million next year as a result.
Digital textbooks have come a long way in the past few years, said Bonnie Robinson, director of the University Press of North Georgia at the University of North Georgia.
Quality was spotty a few years ago. But no
w, many are peer reviewed, including several Robinson is editing, and a number of university presses are now publishing digital texts — another break from the past.
“The gold standard of university presses is peer review,” she said.
Robinson isn’t as certain as Goodroe of the future of free and inexpensive texts.
Faculty members may resist going the digital route, for example.
“There’s nothing certain in the future,” she said.
But the po
tential is great, she believes.
Follow education reporter Lee Shearer at www.facebook.com/LeeShearerABH or twitter.com/LeeShearer
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