This detailed guidebook explains the advantages of open textbooks and then lays out specific ways to promote open books.
A few infographics taken from this guidebook:
Fixing the Broken Textbook Market (June 2020)
How are high course material costs affecting students today? The Student PIRGs implemented a national survey in Fall 2019 to find out. [They] asked nearly 4,000 students to share their experiences with us, across 83 institutions serving over 500,000 students. [They] found that despite publishers’ talking points that access codes and other digital materials have answered student’s cries for help over costs, there has been little measurable improvement in key textbook affordability measures over the last six years since our last national survey.
With the rise of access codes, many students are being priced out of participating in class, especially since homework can be up to 20 percent of their grade. The move to digital also provides new challenges and questions on the front of student data privacy.
Automatic Textbook Billing Report (Feb 2020)
U.S. PIRG Education Fund undertook a first of its kind review of these contracts covering 31 colleges across the country, and affecting more than 700,000 undergraduate students. The review found that many of these contracts fail to deliver real savings for students, reduce faculty and student choice, and give even more power to a handful of big publishing companies.
Recommendations stress the need to implement options that preserve faculty and institutional control, and enhance student choice:
OPEN 101: An Action Plan for Affordable Textbooks (Jan 2018)
Student-authored report. Key findings:
ACCESS DENIED: The New Face of the Textbook Monopoly (Sep 2016)
This report contains two pieces: a survey of critical consumer-oriented information on the potential impact of access codes, and an analysis of the transition from the student perspective.
Working for change from within the system
Organizing toolkit for student governments and other student leaders provides instructions and tips on how to bring open textbooks to your campus. Includes strategies for running a successful campaign (i.e., sample campaign plan, leaflet templates, social media and awareness event ideas),
Creating change from outside the system
This Activist Toolkit provides the basic tools to run strong campaigns and win victories for students and the public interest. Among the topics covered are recruitment (i.e., phonebanking, online organizing), leadership development, grassroots organizing, and working with the media.
In October of 2021, VIVA conducted a Course Materials Survey for Virginia students in higher education. Member institutions, of which UVA is one, participated as a means to seek answers to the two research questions:
UVA had a tremendous return of responses amongst its sample size of 20% of students. The largest representation was from those identifying as undergraduates.
The full report is viewable at the bottom of this page (see VIVA Course Materials Survey).
Included are some selected takeaways. Graphics provided via VIVA Course Materials Default Report.
Q: About how much did you spend on course materials, whether purchased, leased, or rented, during this semester? A guess is OK.
Q: Have any of the following large decisions been based at all on the cost of course materials? Check all that apply.
Q: If the cost is the same, which format do you prefer for your course materials?
When asked how the cost of course materials has influenced their education progress, students replied with varying degrees of concern. Some exemplary responses are included below:
Interested in learning more about the results of the VIVA Course Materials Survey? Please feel free to contact Judy, Bethany, or Haley.