Team Publisher vs. Team Open Source
According to the College Board, undergrads spend an average of about $1300 each year on books and supplies. Some textbooks can run upwards of $350 apiece, which can be prohibitively expensive for a student on a tight budget. To put it bluntly, students shouldn’t have to choose between books and food. Many schools and universities, including UMaine, have been working to replace expensive texts with high quality alternatives (more on that in just a bit).
At SXSWedu, a debate was held between Team Publisher and Team OER (Open Educational Resources) to discuss the issue. During the debate, the panelists discussed their own perspectives on the issue, resulting in an entertaining and informative session.
Team Publisher consisted of Cheryl Costantini from Cengage Learning and Peter Cohen from McGraw-Hill. Team OER members were Kim Thanos from Lumen Learning and Mark Johnson, a dean at San Jacinto College. Goldie Blumenstyk from The Chronicle of Higher Education served as moderator, so it shouldn’t be surprising that she wrote about the event as well: Publishers and Open-Resource Advocates Square Off on the Future of Course Content.
Here at UMaine, the Textbook Alternative Program is an initiative to help match instructors with free and licensed resources as alternatives to traditional and expensive textbooks. A workshop will be held on April 25th at Fogler Library from 10am to 1pm. During the workshop, Fogler Library Reference Librarians and Instructional Designers from the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning will work with faculty to find specific resources.
If you can’t make the workshop but you’d like more information about textbook alternatives, Fogler Library has a page on their website that provides links to resources that may be helpful.