Traditional textbooks—even electronic editions—are overpriced for students and for teachers, and worse still, the price of hard copy and e-books increases with each revised edition. Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming more widely adopted in the classroom for teaching and learning due to their flexibility, minimal costs and easier access for students. This guide outlines […]
Co-editor of Inside Higher Ed says that people mainly focus on the 'free' aspect of Open Educational Resources, but often forget about its adaptability and versatility
A student social media campaign is shedding light on the high cost of university textbooks, and the digital solutions that could save students thousands of dollars. The Ontario Undergraduate Student Association’s #TextbookBroke campaign is asking students to share their receipts from recently purchased textbooks, along with where they’d rather see that money go, in order […]
Andrew Petto, PhD, is Distinguished Lecturer Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. A former anatomy and physiology lecturer, he is a long-standing user of Top Hat in class. Here he explains, from his own experience, the many ways lecturers can help reduce textbook costs for their students—from tips on getting discounts to avoiding expensive bundles. […]
Educators have good reasons for turning their backs on traditional textbooks. While textbooks have until now been an essential teaching tool, they’re no longer doing the job they need to do
Three years ago, the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company provided a dire forecast for the sector in a report titled The Future of Textbooks. “Higher education publishers face a growing threat from the rental-textbook market,” the report said, predicting that rentals would begin to cannibalize new textbook sales by 2017. “Publishers can meet this […]
Postsecondary institutions have wildly different ideas of how much it costs to live in school—and it varies even for institutions in the same city.