Utah Student Open Textbook Initiative

The following is an outlined proposal that we will put forward to those involved at post-secondary institutions in an effort to reduce textbook costs for students:

1. The Idea: Faculty from Math departments across the state will collaborate at a two-week conference to construct the outline and supplemental material for a MATH 1050 textbook that will subsequently be written by a sufficient number of approved professors to be adopted by Math departments across the state. Once the textbook is finished and ready for publication, it will be offered both free online or at a very low cost for a printed edition. It is expected that money generated from sales of the printed version will be used in the creation of additional general education textbooks for courses with large numbers of enrolled students, including ENGL 1010 and 2010, PSY 1010, HIST 1700, MATH 1010, BIOL 1010, etc.

2. Why MATH 1050? Nearly 20,000 students around the state take this course every year and it is the second highest enrolled course (behind English 1010). A common textbook used by schools across the state— Larsen’s Precalculus: A Graphing Approach—costs $186 for a new version and $126 for a used copy.

3. Potential Savings: Most students are required to purchase a new or used version and would rather take advantage of an open source textbook 1) at minimal cost for a printed copy or 2) free online, this initiative has the potential to save Utah’s post-secondary students over $3 million on the high end and around $1 million on the low-end every year.

4. Potential Problems: A non-uniform math curriculum—coupled with the prospect of many faculty unwilling to develop statewide, standardized MATH 1050 coursework—constitute the greatest obstacles to this project. We have chosen to begin with MATH 1050 under the notion that foundational college-level mathematics courses are less difficult to homogenize than most other curricula. The primaries for this project will work with academic officers and the institutions to determine areas of commonality, which can be utilized to construct a consistent text and associated coursework.

5. Cost/Compensation: The following is a cost breakdown[1] for the proposal.

· A two-week conference designed to bring faculty from Math departments at the various institutions together to design an outline of the open-source textbook and associated supplemental material: $15,000.

· A specialist to structure, implement and serve as the primary contact throughout the construction of the open-source textbook: $20,000.

· Campus coordination and material development post-summer conference, including writing, editing, and creation of supplemental material: $30,000.

· Outreach and marketing to the various campuses to ensure faculty use of the open-source textbook: $5,000.

· Administrative overhead: $5,000

SUGGESTED POLICIES FOR CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS

Several policy changes are recommended below for Chief Academic Officers at each institution that—if implemented—would constitute significant gains in moderating the increasingly steep prices of textbooks. While some of these recommendations have been implemented on certain individual campuses, they have not always been widespread and systematic. It is encouraged that each of these steps are given serious consideration:

1. Adopt actual policies that promote equal-quality, cheaper textbooks over more expensive counterparts.

a) Ensure that faculty strongly consider price when determining the textbooks they will use, including promoting unbundled textbooks.

b) Provide a section in faculty guidelines on advancing low-cost textbook options for students.

c) Assess the possibility of instituting faculty committees to determine textbook selections for general education courses with the aim of assuring low-cost material and textbooks are used.

d) Identify and provide incentives to faculty to order the low-cost option and require that faculty give explanations and are accountable when they do not.

2. Promote less expensive textbook sources like book rental, e-book, used textbooks, freecycling and web- swapping, international editions, etc., and offer library access for required books.

3. Use purchasing power to negotiate lower textbook and material prices from publishing companies.

4. Support more fully developed aftermarkets so students are able to buy textbooks at reduced costs.

a) Implement specific buy-back programs in on-campus bookstores, e.g. 3-semester minimum on certain textbooks.

b) Encourage professors to donate complimentary copies of textbooks to bookstores or online retailers.

c) Look at possibility of state-wide textbook rental programs among all the campus bookstores in an attempt to recuperate profits that have gone to online sellers.

5. Invest in online and open source projects:

a) Look at adopting a “generic” textbook for use in lower division courses.

i. The material could be derived from various open sources.

ii. Utilize existing open source textbooks that meet academic standards.

iii. Could be a state-wide project and sold for a small fee; the money generated would go toward updating and revising the material.

b) Encourage all Utah colleges and universities to join OpenCourseWare Consortium (Utah’s public institutions constitute 6 of 22 or 27% of schools nation-wide that belong) and fix associated problems

i. Many institutions still require login information to view course material.

ii. Some incorporate new textbook editions in their courses that are costly.

c) Utilize existing online resources like Project Gutenberg, Bartleby, and Googlebooks.

6. Finally, establish a state-wide committee to assess and potentially apply these proposals.