The Case for Creative Commons Textbooks

1. The Case forCreative Commons Textbooks Fred M. Beshears Educational Technology Services U.C. Berkeley 11th Sloan-C International Conference On Asynchronous Learning (ALN) Orlando FL November 2005

2. Textbook Costs • The average estimated cost of books and supplies per first-time, full-time student for academic year 2003-2004 was $898 at 4-year public institutions, or about 26 percent of the cost of tuition and fees. • At 2-year public institutions, where low-income students are more likely to pursue a degree program and tuition and fees are lower, the average estimated cost of books and supplies per first-time, full-time student was $886 in academic year 2003-2004, representing almost three-quarters of the cost of tuition and fees. GAO, College Textbooks: Enhanced Offerings Appear to Drive Recent Price Increases http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05806.pdf

3. OCW –vs- OpenTextbook • Open CourseWareFaculty work on pro-bono basis and let others use their course materials for non-commercial purposes. Developing over 1,500 courses. • OpenTextbookA large coalition acquires content from a major Open University and places it in the creative commons. Focus on small number of large introductory courses.

4. Original Educore Idea • Ira Fuchs proposes idea in Chronicle of Higher Education • Ira is VP for Research at Mellon Foundation • The business plan: • 1000 schools join Educore coalition • Each contributes $5,000 to $25,000/yr • Educore develops open source educational software

5. OpenTextbook • An organization of 1,000 colleges and universities • Dedicated to acquiring and distributing creative commons “electronic textbooks.” • Focus would be on content for large introductory college courses.

6. Electronic Textbooks • OpenTextbook content could be used: • As the basis of an online course • As an electronic textbook • As a customized printed textbook for use in a traditional course.

7. Focus on Large Courses • Berkeley teaches around 3,500 courses. • But, if we sort by class size, it only takes around 120 courses to account for %50 of Berkeley undergraduate L&S enrollment. • According to Carol Twigg, it takes around 25 courses to account for 50% of community college enrollment.

8. The Business Model • Residential colleges and universities would form a coalition (much like a consumer cooperative). • The coalition would pool their resources to acquire electronic content in bulk from one or more Open Universities. • The content would be freely distributed under a creative commons license.

9. Promoting Faculty Freedom • With OpenTextbook, faculty would be encouraged to: • Modify OpenTextbook content • Reuse OpenTextbook content • In contrast, mass produced commercial textbooks are provided on a “take-it-as-is” or “leave-it” basis. • Also, relying on “free” web content leads to a range of IP rights problems.

10. A Well Respected Open University • The British Open University (UKOU) • See chapter on UKOU inShakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line • by UC Berkeley Professor David Kirp

11. UKOU • When a new course is to be designed, a battalion of experts gathers at Milton Keynes; • during the next year and a half, this group turns out draft syllabi, visions, revisions, evaluations, paper topics, and examinations.

12. UKOU • UKOU's professors take the lead: • the nine hundred faculty members, many of them recruited from similar posts at other British universities, are expected to be pedagogues as well as scholars.

13. UKOU • The team also includes senior tutors, who supervise instruction when the course is in the field; • text editors, who sharpen the prose of books specially written for the course;

14. UKOU • TV producers; software designers; text and measurement specialists; library consultants; outside assessors, who critique what's been prepared – • as many as forty people working together on a single project.

15. Cost of High Quality Content • The UKOU spends a average of $3 million per course on content development. • They have over 200 undergraduate courses in their inventory. • A total investment of $600 million. • They depreciate over 8 years. • Content development is 40% of their budget. • Ongoing development cost: $75 million/yr

16. Cost to OpenTextbook Members • If OpenTextbook formed a strategic alliance with UKOU … • The ongoing cost per member would be: • $75 million per year / 1000 members = • $75,000 per campus

17. OpenTextbook Cost Per Student • For schools the size of Berkeley • $75,000 per year / 23,000 undergraduates • $3.25 per year per student • According to the General Account Office, students currently pay $898 per year on textbooks.

18. Potential Cost Savings per School • UC Berkeley has 23,000 undergraduates ($898 - $3.25) x 23,000 = $20,579,250 per year!!!

19. Potential Opposition & Support • A small percentage of faculty write textbooks. • A small percentage of textbook authors make a significant amount of money on their textbooks. • Faculty who select course content are interested in funding to help customize that content.

20. Potential Opposition & Support • Some in the UKOU may fear they’re giving up a strategic asset. • Coalition would cover around 40% of UKOU overall costs. • Coalition may find another partner to create content. • Creative commons aligns with overall mission of an open university.

21. Two Local Models for OpenTextbook • A Library Resource Model • A Financial Incentives Model

22. Library Resource Model • OpenTextbook content is made available as a library resource. • Faculty are completely free to “opt-out” and select commercial textbooks as they do now.. • Students might lobby faculty to use “free” library resources, but this is already happening even without OpenTextbook.

23. The Library Resource Model • What if they build it and nobody comes? • The downside risk would be the cost of the long term contract to pay membership dues (e.g. $75,000 a year). • It would be similar to what the library pays for an expensive journal subscription.

24. The Financial Incentives Model • Identify 100 large courses that use textbooks and that map well to the OpenTextbook content. • Determine how much students currently spend on these courses (e.g. $500/yr for commercial textbooks). • Establish a course material fee that is some percentage of this cost (i.e. a 100% fee would be $500/year).

25. The Financial Incentives Model • A lower percentage fee would save students money; a higher percentage would give the university more money to work with. • Ivy League schools may want to add value for their students, and may charge a 100% fee. • Community colleges may charge a small fee to hold down costs (i.e. a fee which would cover the cost of OpenTextbook membership, but perhaps not the cost of textbooks).

26. The Financial Incentives Model • Students would not be required to purchase textbooks for the 100 courses covered by the fee. • Faculty would be free to assign commercial textbooks for these courses, but if they do the cost will be covered with revenue from the course material fee (i.e. assuming the fee is sufficient to cover the cost of textbooks).

27. The Financial Incentives Model • If faculty use OpenTextbook content, then the money that would otherwise be spent on textbooks could go towards customizing that content (e.g. faculty stipends, student support, staff support). • Schools would place materials developed with the fee in the creative commons.

28. References: The Case for Creative Commons Textbooks (April 07, 2005) http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content2/20050407015813 The Case for Creative Commons Textbooks  (September 17, 2005) http://istpub.berkeley.edu:4201/bcc/Fall2005/opentextbook.html Viewpoint: The Economic Case for Creative Commons Textbooks (October 15, 2005) http://www.campus-technology.com/article.asp?id=11891