Dimsdale, Denise

English

Georgia State University

Georgia State University
ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University
Selections from the University Library Blog University Library Publications
3-13-2015
Why Professors are creating and using free and
open textbooks
Denise Dimsdale
Georgia State University, mdimsdale@gsu.edu
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Recommended Citation
Dimsdale, Denise, "Why Professors are creating and using free and open textbooks" (2015). Selections from the University Library Blog.
16.
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_blog/16
Why Professors are creating and using free and open 
textbooks 
Posted on March 13, 2015 by Denise Dimsdale 
College textbook prices are increasing faster than tuition and 
inflation. The College Board estimates that students need $1200per year for textbooks. 
Based on that number, students in the University System of Georgia (USG) 
could spend $360,000,000 this year on textbooks. With the high price of 
textbooks, studentsoften need to wait until their student loan check arrives before 
buying the textbook, and some students forgo the textbook altogether due to costs. 
Some professors have said enough of this already. Today’stechnology allows us to create 
and distribute effective, quality content at practically no cost. So, let’s offer textbooks for 
free. Let’s create flexible content that gives students multiple formats to choose from. 
We may be able to offer students the option to print (or purchase a print copy for less 
than their own cost of printing) or access the content on their tablet, phone, or 
computer. Maybe students will even save the content forever so that their learning 
doesn’t stop when the course is over. We could even assign a license that provides the 
right to adapt and redistribute the work so that both students and teachers have the 
flexibility they need to teach and learn. 
Content that allows for such flexible uses are known as Open Educational Resources 
(OER). A growing body of empirical research has shown improvements in retention, 
completion, GPAs and other factors with the use of OERs. Learn more about finding and 
using open resources with this Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG) tutorial. For 
additional assistance, contact Denise Dimsdale (mdimsdale@gsu.edu), ALG Library 
Coordinator or George Pullman(gpullman@gsu.edu), ALG Campus Champion. 
Check out these OER textbooks in use in some USG courses: 
 http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00016298/00001/
 
 
 
http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/introduction
 
 
https://openstaxcollege.org/pages/GeorgiaBiology
 
 
-to-sociology 
 
 https://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/college-physics 
 
 
http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/advanced-algebra/ 
 
 
http://www.parlorpress.com/pdf/writing-spaces-v1.pdf 
 
  
  
  


Why Professors are creating and using free and open textbooks

https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&amp;context=univ_lib_blog

Why Professors are creating and using free and open textbooks

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