Beyond the textbook: exploring open access resources

providing context and overview

Shireen DebooFaculty Development

2013

“open access”—what does it mean?

• Fairly generic term with different definitions in different contexts

• OER, open source, free• Opposite of proprietary or fee-based content

Free ≠ open access

Free: anything you can find on the www

Open access: anything you can find on the www that is not copyright restricted

How did we get here?

Cost of textbooks

Students of two-year public colleges spend, on average, $850 a year on textbooks. ¹

The cost of the average college textbook increased 186 percent between 1986 and 2004.²

¹¹“Tennessee Bill Seeks to Reduce Cost of College Textbooks,” Community College Week 18 June 2007: 21, 24 Feb. 2009 Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. South Seattle Community College Library. <http://p2048-ez.sccd.ctc.edu.ez.sccd.ctc.edu:4048/ login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=25482646&site=ehost-live>.

²Alex Kingsbury and Lindsay Galloway, “Textbooks Enter the Digital Era; High-tech Options can Save Money and Boost Learning,” U.S. News and World Report 16 Oct. 2006, 25 Feb. 2009 ProQuest Research Library. ProQuest. South Seattle Community College Library. <http://proquest.umi.com.ez.sccd.ctc.edu:2060/ qdweb?did=1142735051&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=79571&RQT=309&VName=PQD>.

problems with scholarly publishing

While the CPI increased 73% between 1986-2004, research library expenditures for serials increased 273%.

June 2010: Nature Publishing Group proposes 400% increase to University of California for its license for e-journals

source:http://www.arl.org/sparc/pricing/

Chronicle of Higher Ed, 6/9/10

more problems with scholarly publishing

• publicly funded research remains in private/corporate control;

• IHEs are double-paying: for the cost of research, and then to buy back the results of the research in journal articles;

So, what is the response to these challenges?

The World Wide Web happens:

• Multi media/visual/audio/video opportunities• Collaborative ability• Editing capacity• Self-publishing capacity• Reduced costs of online access

Organizations like SPARC develop to address soaring costs of peer-reviewed journals published by multinational media corporations…

Harvard faculty votes to make all scholarly publications available throughopen access

ROARMAP tracks OA mandates around the globe

So…what does all this mean for you?

• More journal titles and scholarly research available without subscription or fee

• Thousands of educators are creating, customizing and sharing educational content online, and you can use it for your students and classes.

Maybe you are looking for new classroom material on the Civil Rights movement.

http://www.oercommons.org/

You want new ways to teach a lesson on geodes.

http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

Looking for ways to present material on linear equations in algebra?

http://cnx.org/

http://creativecommons.org/about/

“What surprises you most about how the Internet is used today?”

“The slow process by which education has made use of the Internet.”¹ (Vint Cerf)

¹Snyder, Lawrence. Fluency with information technology: skills, concepts and capabilities. 2 nd edition. Boston: Addison Wesley, 2006. Print.