Opening the Textbook:

Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2017

 

Julia E. Seaman, Ph.D.

Research Director, Babson Survey Research Group

Jeff Seaman, Ph.D.

Director, Babson Survey Research Group

2017


Opening the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2017, Babson Survey Research Group

is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
Report available at:
www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/oer.html.

APPENDIX TABLES

Selecting Educational Resources

 

Proportion of Faculty requiring Particular Materials for Their Course

Textbook(s)

68.2%

Articles/Case studies

52.7%

Video/Film

22.4%

Software

19.9%

Supplies (Laboratory, Art, etc.)

15.4%

Other

13.0%

Calculator

11.3%

Data sets

8.1%

Clicker (Classroom response system)

6.3%

 

 

Importance of Factors in Selecting Required Course Materials

 

Works with my institution’s LMS

Recommended by other faculty

Includes supplemental materials

Very important

16.8%

9.0%

21.7%

Important

18.3%

29.9%

20.8%

Somewhat important

20.9%

37.3%

23.2%

Not important

43.9%

23.9%

34.3%

 

 

 

 

 

Adaptable/editable

Available in digital format

Available in print format

Very important

29.2%

32.4%

44.6%

Important

26.6%

32.3%

30.0%

Somewhat important

18.1%

25.2%

16.7%

Not important

26.2%

10.0%

8.7%

 

 

 

 

 

Easy to find

Cost to the student

Comprehensive content

Very important

43.2%

55.5%

57.9%

Important

39.3%

32.6%

30.9%

Somewhat important

12.5%

10.1%

8.2%

Not important

4.9%

1.8%

3.0%

 

 

Importance of Factors in Selecting Required Course Materials by Type of Institution

 

2015-16

2016-17

Works with my institution’s LMS

34.1%

35.1%

Recommended by other faculty

44.3%

38.8%

Includes supplemental materials

41.0%

42.5%

Adaptable/editable

43%

55.8%

Available in digital format

 Not Asked

64.8%

Available in print format

 Not Asked

74.6%

Easy to find

69%

82.5%

Cost to the student

87%

88.1%

Comprehensive content

76%

88.8%

 

Cost to the Student

 

Importance of Cost in Selection of Curriculum Materials

Very important

Important

Part-time

58.5%

29.7%

Full-time

54.5%

33.5%

N/A

57.1%

27.8%

Tenured

51.4%

33.6%

Tenure track, not tenured

56.3%

34.4%

Not tenure track

59.1%

33.2%

Under 35

64.3%

26.2%

35 - 44

58.1%

32.4%

45 - 54

57.6%

31.4%

55+

53.1%

32.6%

 

 

Average Cost of Required textbook by Discipline

Discipline

Average Cost

Computer and Information Science

 $68

Liberal Arts and Sciences

 $69

Social Sciences

 $74

Education

 $87

Natural Sciences

 $101

Business

 $132

Professional

 $155

Health and related

 $182

 

 

Satisfaction With Cost for the Selected Textbook

 

Very satisfied

Satisfied

Business

12.8%

31.9%

Education

18.2%

27.3%

Natural Sciences

14.1%

32.0%

Computer and Information Science

20.8%

35.4%

Liberal Arts and Sciences

26.8%

33.9%

Professional

28.6%

32.9%

Social Sciences

19.7%

43.6%

Health and related

18.2%

65.5%

 

 

Proportion of Faculty Reporting that at Least 90% of their Students had Purchased the Required textbook by Discipline

Computer and Information Science

25.0%

Natural Sciences

26.7%

Business

28.3%

Social Sciences

31.1%

Liberal Arts and Sciences

35.5%

Education

41.2%

Health and related

51.0%

Professional

58.1%

 


 

Awareness of Open Educational Resources

 

Awareness of Open Educational Resources: 2016-17

Very Aware

9.6%

Aware

19.6%

Somewhat Aware

15.3%

Not Aware

55.5%

 

 

Awareness of Open Educational Resources: 2014-15 to 2016-17

 

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

Very Aware

5%

7%

9.6%

Aware

15%

19%

19.6%

Somewhat Aware

14%

16%

15.3%

Not Aware

65.9%

58.4%

55.5%

 

 

Awareness of Licensing of Open Educational Resources

 

Awareness of Legal Permissions: 2016-17

 

Creative Commons

Public Domain

Copyright

Very Aware

19%

30%

42%

Aware

28%

40%

42%

Somewhat Aware

24%

22%

13%

Unaware

29%

8.7%

4%

 

 

Awareness of Creative Commons: 2014-15 to 2016-17

 

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

Very Aware

14%

16%

19%

Aware

23%

22%

28%

Somewhat Aware

28%

28%

24%

Unaware

36%

34.2%

34%

 

 

Awareness of Open Educational Resources and Creative COMMONS: 2014-15 to 2016-17

 

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

Very Aware

5%

6%

8.4%

Aware

12%

16%

16.6%

Somewhat Aware

10%

12%

12.1%

Not Aware

73.6%

66.3%

62.9%

 


 

Digital versus Print

 

Faculty Preference for Print or Digital Materials

Prefer print materials

31.7%

Neutral

39.4%

Prefer digital materials

28.9%

 

 

Prefer Digital Materials Over Print by Age of Faculty

Under 35

41.3%

35 - 44

36.5%

45 - 54

30.7%

55+

26.2%

 

 

Prefer Digital Materials Over Print by Discipline of Faculty

Professional

40.3%

Liberal Arts and Sciences

35.9%

Computer and Information Science

35.2%

Health and related

33.3%

Education

30.0%

Natural Sciences

25.6%

Business

23.9%

Social Sciences

22.4%

 

Educational Resource Decision Process

 

Activity of Faculty Selecting Required Course Materials

 

Created new course

24.1%

Substantially modified course

53.5%

New required materials

22.4%

 

 

Faculty Role in Decision of Required Course Materials

Solely responsible

66.8%

Lead a group

10.2%

Member of a group

12.5%

Influence the selection

5.4%

No role

2.1%

Other

3.1%

 

 

Use of Open-Licensed Textbook

 

2015-16

5.3%

2016-17

8.6%

 


 

 

Licensing of Required Textbooks

Digital Textbook(s)

Copyrighted

77.6%

Creative Commons

3.6%

Public Domain

7.0%

NA/Don't Know

15.7%

Printed Textbook(s)

Copyrighted

95.6%

Creative Commons

1.1%

Public Domain

3.5%

NA/Don't Know

3.2%

 

 

Potential Barriers

 

Barriers to Adoption of OER - 2016-17

Difficult to find what I need

50.2%

Lack of resources for my subject

46.6%

Concern about updates

28.6%

Not high-quality

27.7%

Questions on permission
to use or change

23.5%

Lack of track record

19.6%

No good print options

19.5%

Lack of associated materials

18.4%

Not used by other faculty

16.4%

Not current, up-to-date

16.1%

Other

9.1%

 

 

Barriers to Adoption of OER - 2016-17 and 2015-16

 

2015-16

2016-17

Difficult to find what I need

48%

50.2%

Lack of resources for my subject

49%

46.6%

Concern about updates

 Not Asked

28.6%

Not high-quality

28%

27.7%

Questions on permission
to use or change

21%

23.5%

 

The Process of Textbook Adoption for Introductory Courses

 

Importance of Factors in Selecting Required Course Materials - Teach Introductory Course or Not

 

No

Teach Introductory Course

Comprehensive content

88.2%

90.2%

Cost to the student

87.2%

90.4%

Easy to find

81.7%

84.6%

Available in print format

72.5%

79.6%

Available in digital format

64.9%

64.3%

Adaptable/editable

55.1%

57.3%

Includes supplemental materials

42.3%

42.9%

Recommended by other faculty

37.8%

41.5%

Works with my institution’s LMS

32.7%

41.2%

 

 

Barriers to Adoption of OER - 2016-17

 

National

Teach Intro Course

Difficult to find what I need

50.2%

38.0%

Lack of resources for my subject

46.6%

33.2%

Concern about updates

28.6%

23.7%

Not high-quality

27.7%

36.5%

Questions on permission
to use or change

23.5%

18.3%

Lack of track record

19.6%

19.5%

No good print options

19.5%

24.3%

Lack of associated materials

18.4%

37.5%

Not used by other faculty

16.4%

18.2%

Not current, up-to-date

16.1%

9.9%

Other

9.1%

12.7%

 

 

OpenStax adoption

 

2015-16

2016-17

Adopted OpenStax

10.8%

16.5%

 

 

Satisfaction with Textbook

Intro Course OpenStax

Intro Course Non-OpenStax

Non-Intro Courses

Extremely satisfied

24%

29%

32%

Moderately satisfied

60%

48%

52%

Slightly satisfied

10%

12%

8%

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

0%

4%

3%

Slightly dissatisfied

3%

3%

2%

Moderately dissatisfied

2%

2%

1%

Extremely dissatisfied

0%

2%

1%

 

 

Satisfaction with Selected Textbook - OpenStax User or Not

 

Adopted OpenStax

Other

Easy to find

93%

92%

Recommended by faculty

83%

84%

Familiarity with brand/publisher

87%

84%

Comprehensive content

76%

79%

Supplemental instructor material

69%

77%

Works with LMS

70%

76%

Adaptable/editable

71%

64%

Cost to the student

86%

42%

 

 

Use Existing Materials or Develop Own

 

OpenStax Adopter

All Other Teaching Introductory Course

Develop own curriculum

58.5%

54.0%

Neutral

27.7%

34.1%

Utilize third party content

13.8%

11.9%

 

 

Preference for Lecture Versus Facilitated Exploration

 

OpenStax Adopter

All Other Teaching Introductory Course

Preference for lecture

13.6%

30.2%

Neutral

35.6%

41.9%

Preference for facilitated exploration

50.8%

27.9%

 

 

Preference for Print Versus Digital Materials

 

OpenStax Adopter

All Other Teaching Introductory Course

Prefer print materials

17.5%

33.7%

Neutral

43.9%

41.0%

Prefer digital materials

38.6%

25.3%

 

 

Future Use

 

Will You Use Open Educational Resources in the Next Three Years?

Yes

7.4%

Will consider

36.9%

Might Consider

34.7%

Not interested

6.4%

No Opinion / Don't Know

14.6%

 

 

Will You Use Open Educational Resources in the Next Three Years: 2015-16 and 2016-17

 

Yes

Will consider

2015-16

6.9%

31.3%

2016-17

7.4%

36.9%

 


 

Methodology

 

Tenure Status

 

N/A

14.6%

Tenured

42.9%

Tenure track, not tenured

11.6%

Not tenure track

30.8%

 

 

Teaching Status

 

Part-time

27.2%

Full-time

72.8%

 

 

Number of years teaching

 

1 to 3

7.3%

4 to 5

8.2%

6 to 9

12.5%

10 to 15

17.2%

16 to 20

13.7%

More than 20

41.2%

 

 

Discipline

 

Business

6.8%

Computer and Information Science

6.2%

Education

5.4%

Health and related

7.5%

Liberal Arts and Sciences

29.0%

Natural Sciences

16.2%

Professional

13.0%

Social Sciences

15.8%