OER and The Economies of Sale - MACS 2014

www.opendoorsgroup.org

MACS 2014 Fall Meeting

Charles Key

The Economies of SaleThe Emerging Market for OER

October 13, 2014Open Doors Group

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

http://creativecommons.org/

Charles KeyOpen Doors Group

Director of Adoptions, College Open Textbooks, and Grants

charles.key@opendoorsgroup.org

http://www.opendoorsgroup.orghttp://www.collegeopentextbooks.org

Open Doors Group (ODG) is a not-for-profit organization that seeks toIncrease access to education by lowering barriers for all learners. We are active in a wide range of activities, including our major projects:• College Open Textbooks• Communities• MOOCs• ODG Consulting

College Open Textbooks (COT)• Online ‘referatory’ of over 750 open and affordable textbooks,

primarily for two-year college level courses• Active online community of over 1500 members• Twenty Communities of Practice organized around specific academic

disciplines or interests.

We advocate for the adoption of OER as well as Affordable CARR

The Point Is…

• Higher ed is in a “cost crisis”

• Digital technology has changed the equation for creating, storing, and communicating information

• OER are an increasingly important part of the solution

• Campus stores can thrive in this environment

The Rising Cost of Everything

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

OMG!

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Student Loan Debt Soaring

Textbook Cost as a % of Tuition

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/26/pf/college/college_tuition_costhttp://www.studentpirgs.org/campaigns/sp/make-textbooks-affordable

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/college-costs/college-costs-faqshttps://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10064

Average annual cost of tuition and fees• Public two-year college (in state): ~$3000• Public four-year college (in state): ~$8500

Average annual cost of books and supplies• Public college: ~$1200

The Cost Disparity at 2-Year Colleges: Take 2

Community college in-state tuition: $46/unitCost of two 4-unit courses: $368Organic Chemistry by Janice Smith: $195Study Guide & Solutions Manual: $126

Students tell College Open Textbooks:It’s not uncommon for the cost of textbooks to double the cost of tuition at the 2-year college level.

Calsidyrose by Curiosities CC BYhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/calsidyrose/4686098399/in/photostream/

The Effect

60%+ do not purchase textbooks at some point due to cost

35% take fewer courses due to textbook cost

31% choose not to register for a course due to textbook cost

23% regularly go without textbooks due to cost

14% have dropped a course due to textbook cost

10% have withdrawn from a course due to textbook cost Source: 2012 student survey by Florida Virtual

Campuswww.projectkaleidoscope.org

There are no winners

The Response

Entrepreneurs view market inefficiencies as opportunities. The convergence of the cost crisis,

the digital revolution and new technologies is causing a fundamental shift in the way we view

and provide education.

OER

MOOCs

GovernmentalPolicy

Ed SpaceStartups

Open Data

State-WideRepositories

Entrepreneurship is Exploding

What are Open Educational Resources?

“OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.

Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge."

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The 5-R’s Framework

David Wiley/Lumen LearningNicole Allen/SPARC

http://opencontent.org/definition/

There is an inherent cost to produce and maintain content.

This is independent of whether the producer charges the consumer for its use.

5 Reasons Why OER Aren’t Going Away

1.Savings2.Improving Quality3.Technology4.Governmental Policy5.Licensing Infrastructure

How Much Can Be Saved?

Higher Ed Savings Estimates

$116.60 (Tacoma Community College 2013)$107.34 (Student PIRGs 2010)$101.69 (Student PIRGs 2011)$95.95 (Student PIRGs 2013)$90.61 (Project Kaleidoscope 2013)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YikQJFigkv_AMmOw0C_E6i53UQ8UbAuDxnsZrIzfiFU/edit http://www.studentpirgs.org/reports/cover-cover-solution

http://www.studentpirgs.org/resources/cost-analysis-open-course-libraryhttp://www.studentpirgs.org/resources/updated-cost-analysis-open-course-library to be published

Average Savings: $100/student/class

How Much Has Been Saved in Higher Ed?

Total students served: 771,263Total potential savings: $75M+

http://www.slideshare.net/txtbks/billion-dollar-keynote

Students Served

The Quality Issue

People intuitively feel that the more you pay for something, the higher its quality (“You get what you pay for”)

There’s a growing body of evidence that learning outcomes are as good or better when using OER than when using traditional

commercial materials.

Studies Suggest…

CMU Open Learning InitiativeA 2011 independent study of an OLI statistics course showed that OLI students performed as well or better than students in traditional instructor-led classes.

South Florida CollegeStudents using OpenStax physics textbook saw scores on concept inventory tests rise 30% over scores from the previous five years.

Houston Community CollegeIn 2011, 690 psychology students using a free, online textbook had improved learning outcomes in three areas.

Scottsdale Community CollegeA 2012 study found that math students in classes using OER had comparable overall grades and completion rates to students from previous, non-OER classes.

http://oli.cmu.edu/get-to-know-oli/see-our-proven-results/http://chaos.open.ac.uk/evidence/impact-of-openstax-textbook-on-physics-students-south-florida-college/

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657#.UxQEqONdVuIhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1523/2652

Curated Repositories

Washington State Open Course LibraryFlorida Orange Grove

University of Minnesota Open Textbook LibraryBCcampus Collection

OpenStax CollegeCalifornia Digital Open Source Library

Technology

Digital Storage

Wideband Access and Delivery Channels

Devices• E-readers• Tablets• Cell Phones

Authoring Tools• OERCommons OpenAuthor• Connexions Authoring Platform• AcademicPub Textbook Creation Platform

How Technology Influences Cost

For One 250 Page Book

Cost to Copy• By hand: $1,000• By print-on-demand: $4.90• By computer: $0.00084•

Cost to Distribute• By mail: $5.20• By print-on-demand: $0• By internet: $0.00072

CC BY: David Wiley, BYU

Production of Quality Content is Within Anyone’s Reach

Music

Video

Social Media

Websites

Magazines

Books

Governmental Policy

Summary of Current and Proposed Policy InitiativesRelated to Open Education and Resources

Source: Creative Commons OER Policy Registry

48 Total Initiatives

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/OER_Policy_Registry

Licensing of Open Content

GNU General Public LicenseA free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works.

Creative Commons LicensesA set of six licenses for creative works.

Lots of Others

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

Creative Commons Licenses

http://www.slideshare.net/cgreen/keynote-ace-upcea-san-diego-sols14

Internationally Recognized

http://www.slideshare.net/cgreen/keynote-ace-upcea-san-diego-sols14

The Epitome of Open Content

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, on Open Content:“…we’ve chosen the free licensing model because that empowers anybody to take our content and do anything they like with it…”

The English version contains nearly 4.5M articles

“Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries, a Nature investigation finds. ”

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Size_of_English_Wikipedia_in_August_2010_(L).svg

Business Models for OER

The early model: No-cost content, pay for services and upgrades• Special formats• Printed matter

Sustainability has been hard to come by• Flat World Knowledge, an early leader in professional-grade

open textbooks, has retreated and is now Affordable CARR• Boundless offers some no-cost content, but most is low-cost

The Wikipedia model hasn’t yet worked for OER

Prominent Models• Government/System Supported• For-Profit Publishers• College/Department• Individual Authors• Student Fees

New work by new digital-only providers with low overhead

• NACS reports that 77 cents of the textbook dollar goes to publisher overhead.

The software industry has shown that consumers are willing to pay for packaging and convenience

Business Models

There’s Money to be Made Selling Free Content

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/RHAT/2991989334x0x657207/97DF4F83-606D-4AC5-9153-0B7B49C558CC/SEC-RHAT-1193125-13-173724.pdf

The content is free, the packaging and support is not.

Opportunities For Stores

ExpertisePartnerships

Print-On-Demand

So Many Options…

…So Little Information

Surveys consistently show that educators who want to explore OER don’t know where to go

• Wide range of sources, from individual authors to curated repositories

• No easy way to locate them• OER producers lack the marketing budgets to get the

information to consumers

Many interested educators don’t understand licensing issues

No database of adoptions data so that educators can find out what peers are using

Partnerships Will Be Key

Authors/Publishers

Information Providers

Students

Printers

Libraries Faculty

Administration

Stores

Print-On-Demand

75-80% of students still want a printed copy, even when digital media is available

Offers a tangible way to participate when OER is used

Solves a persistent problem for retailers: inventory control

Bonus: Interest in self-publishing is booming

One POD Option

http://ondemandbooks.com/

Learn More About OER

• Follow the links in this presentation

• www.collegeopentextbooks.org

• Monthly webinars at CCCOER

http://oerconsortium.org/

College Open Textbooks Can Help

• COT Referatory• Over 750 Open and Affordable CARR titles

• The COT Community • http://collegeopentextbooks.ning.com/

• Adoption Resources & Information

• Consulting• Adoption Strategies• Business Models

Contact

Charles KeyOpen Doors Group

Director of Adoptions, College Open Textbooks, and Grants

charles.key@opendoorsgroup.org

http://www.opendoorsgroup.orghttp://www.collegeopentextbooks.org