Michael and everyone else,
I have several other options instead of open sourcing that can be used
to reduct the costs of books for students.
1. Atomic Dog (www.atomicdog.com)- electronic text. This was recently
purchased by a publisher and their prices have increased but still
reasonable. The textbooks are very basic and will need to be
supplemented by lecture but they do cover the basic materials.
2. Xanedu (www.xanedu.com) - electronic cases and chapters. This source
has older material for use. Some material is more expensive than others
but it does provide options for creating a customize text without the
hassles that you mentioned below. I am also able to change my packets
each semester for small classes. Customized text typically do not let
you do this. The expense is based on the material you use.
In either of the above cases, you can arrange for the bookstore to sell
a key which gives the student access to the material or have the student
directly purchase the material from the website. The students will have
options of electronic copy only or electronic with hard copy .
3. Another option that I use for seniors and graduate students is
electronic reserves through the library. Harvard Business Review and
similar publications have excellent articles that the students at this
level should be able to comprehend. The students enjoy the fact that
there are no book costs to them and actually enjoy discussing the articles.
4. The last option that I use for seniors and graduate students is
popular business press books. There are a lot of good titles out there.
The students are also able to find these titles through their favorite
book sellers. If the students have the list early enough, they can also
get them relatively inexpensive.
I also recognize that option 3 & 4 do not work for all classes.
I teach upper division and graduate level classes. By using combinations
of the above options whenever possible, the costs of textbooks for my
classes is between $35.00-$75.00.
I am confident that there are other options out there other than open
sourcings. Since Michael stated that he would collect ideas about open
sourcing, I am willing to compile a list regarding other options for the
reduction of textbook costs. My direct e-mail is
williamsj@jsu.edu.
Regards,
Joann
Barnett, Michael wrote:
> /-- Fair warning: I'm cross-posting yet again. When will I ever reform?/
>
> Textbooks are expensive. In Florida public universities, textbook
> costs rival tuition costs. I�m currently chairing a �Textbook
> Affordability Initiative� at the University of South Florida to help
> resolve this problem (and not simply by raising tuition costs to make
> textbook costs appear cheaper by comparison!). We�ve tried direct
> negotiation with a major publisher to purchase blanket access to their
> electronic archives (cf. library purchase agreements with journal
> publishers), but the price they�ve quoted makes it infeasible.
>
> And so now we�ve turned to exploring open source textbook options and
> ways to use other course materials in lieu of texts. I�d rather not
> recreate any wheels, should they already exist, and so I ask for your
> advice and experiences with open source projects, should you have any.
> I don�t know if the quantity and quality of open source texts is
> adequate. I don�t know all the challenges of incentivizing authors to
> release texts and course materials for open source. I don�t know all
> the challenges of incentivizing professors to adopt open source texts
> and materials for their courses. And I don�t know if I should be
> prepared for serious legal or other challenges from publishers who
> want to maintain the gravy train of privatizing a bit too much of
> what, in my mind at the moment, should largely be public knowledge.
> And, of course, many recipients of this e-mail are also recipients of
> royalty payments, so what are the implications of upending this system
> for you?
>
> I have a perhaps overly optimistic idea that I can create a pool of
> funds on the order of, say, $100,000, within my university that could
> be used to provide grants to authors and adopters. Where viable open
> source materials don�t already exist, we�d offer new authors, say,
> $5,000 for releasing a text that at least, say, two other professors
> have agreed to adopt. We�d put the text through external review, and
> to receive the full grant, the authors would have to agree to a few
> revisions to ensure the text is of adequate quality. I�m hoping that
> there are enough out-of-print or unpublished texts of relevance out
> there that this becomes feasible without great effort. Professors
> would be offered grants of, say, $500, for completing a tutorial on
> open source use and then adopting open source materials for a course.
> I�d rely on student pressure to encourage professors to adopt open
> source as well.
>
> Please let me know of your experiences and your thoughts on this idea.
> I�m glad to summarize for the list, should folks desire. I currently
> can be reached at:
mbarnett@coba.usf.edu <mailto:
mbarnett@coba.usf.edu>.
>
> ********************
> Michael L. Barnett, PhD
> University of South Florida
> College of Business Administration
> Department of Management & Organization
> 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, BSN 3527
> Tampa, FL 33620-5500
> Phone: 813-974-1727
> Fax: 813-974-1734
> Webpage:
http://www.coba.usf.edu/barnett
> View my research on my SSRN Author page:
> _<http://ssrn.com/author=414796
> <https://email.usf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://ssrn.com/author=414796>>_
>