Open Resource Textbooks

This week we have had several discussions on the topic of Open Resource Textbooks, their quality, perceptions of use and effect on achievement. So, we would like to share the article, “As Good or Better than Commercial Textbooks: Students’ Perceptions and Outcomes from Using Open Digital and Open Print Textbooks” by Jhangiani, et al. In this research the authors found that “students using the print format of the open textbook perceive its quality to be superior to the commercial textbook. Moreover, students assigned an open textbook in either format perform either no differently from or better than those assigned a commercial textbook."

Specifically, they explored the following research questions:

1. Do students using an open textbook perform differently on course exams from students using a commercial psychology textbook?

2. Do students using an open textbook in page-fidelity digital format perform differently on course exams from students using the same open textbook in print format?

a. The authors found that there were no differences in exam performance between students assigned the digital and print formats of the open textbook.

3. Do students’ study habits vary as a function of textbook openness and format?

a. Yielded mixed results. Students across the three conditions did not differ in the number of hours per week they reported spending studying the textbook or in the proportion of their weekly assigned readings that they typically completed.

4. Do students’ perception of quality vary as a function of textbook openness and format?

a. Students rated the quality of the print format of the open textbook to be significantly superior to the commercial textbook.

5. Do students’ perceptions of a fair price vary as a function of textbook openness and format?

6. Do students’ textbook format preferences vary as a function of textbook openness and format?

Jhangiani, R. S., Dastur, F. N., Le Grand, R., & Penner, K. (2018). As Good or Better than Commercial Textbooks: Students’ Perceptions and Outcomes from Using Open Digital and Open Print Textbooks. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9 (1). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2018.1.5 (https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1420&context=cjsotl_rcacea)