As textbook prices rise, college seeks alternatives for students | Cronkite News
lterrat's bookmarks 2017-05-18
Summary:
"Some Arizona schools have begun to make open resource options available to students, but Scottsdale Community College is the first to explicitly begin replacing the textbook for courses entirely, according to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.
'A lot of people are using (open educational resources) to supplement a textbook, but it can be replaced,' Bloom said. 'Why would I make my students buy a textbook when you can get everything for free online? And it’s not only legal for them to access the content, but you can actually have them do more interactive things.'
By providing a variety of resources, Bloom said he has seen a higher overall engagement from his students.
Eighty-two percent of the more than of 2,000 university students surveyed in a national poll said they would do significantly better in a course if the textbook was available free online and buying a hard copy was optional, according to a report by U.S. Public Interest Research Group released in 2014."