An open-textbook policy is a must - The Sheaf

"After tuition, food, and rent, textbooks are the next biggest expense for students. Every year students shell out roughly $1,200 for textbooks, but what do we get out of it? I’ve been listening to students since launching my campaign for President of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union in March 2013, and what I’ve heard is that they feel like they are being ripped off after buying their textbooks — and rightly so. The system we have now doesn’t work. Students generally aren’t rolling in the dough when they come to university and, to be frank, don’t have money to waste. But so often this is what happens: we buy a $400 textbook and read one chapter for the class for which the textbook was supposedly needed. Students are fed up. That’s why this year the USSU is focusing on real solutions for reducing the cost of textbooks that work for students, faculty and government. We need to take the business of knowledge distribution into the 21st century and that’s why I’m proposing an open-textbook program be brought to the U of S. Open-textbook programs allow textbooks to be put online for students and professors to access for free. That’s right — free! These textbooks are published under creative commons licenses, which means that professors can add content that is more relevant to their classes, or take things out that don’t make sense for the classes they’re teaching without breaking traditional copyright laws. No more Ontario-centric examples for our Saskatchewan classrooms. A calculus text that is regularly $200 could be under $30 — if not free — for a printed copy under an open-textbook program. This will collectively save students hundreds of thousands of dollars and allow for more local content to be taught in U of S classes. This is a win-win for everybody. If you think this is too idealistic or will never happen, think again. Many jurisdictions in the U.S. already have open-textbook programs, including California, Washington and Utah. Closer to home, the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education announced that it would make free online textbooks available for the 40 most popular courses in the province — a first in Canada. The U of S has a unique moment here to show goodwill towards students who are becoming increasingly skeptical of administration and government alike in this climate of austerity ..."