Analysis of Student and Faculty Perceptions of Textbook Costs in Higher Education

Keywords

education open educational resources

Abstract

The cost of textbooks has continued to impact students in higher education. Students have reported that they make decisions on which courses to take based on the specific cost of textbooks. Faculty have reported willingness to use open textbooks to help ease the burden on students but are unsure where to find viable options. We examined the responses of 676 students and 573 faculty from a large private university (Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah) to understand the real impact of textbooks costs to students and how they are dealing with this ongoing problem. We found that 66% of students at this institution have not purchased a textbook due to cost. We also discovered that 91% of faculty at this institution would be willing to use OER alternatives and that 53% of them would welcome assistance identifying and adapting materials for their course.

Original Publication Citation

Troy Martin, Olga Belikov, John Hilton, David Wiley & Lane Fischer. Analysis of student and faculty perceptions of textbook costs in higher education. Open Praxis, 9(1), 79-91. (2017).

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2017-03-31

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6170

Publisher

LearnTechLib

Language

English

College

Religious Education

Department

Ancient Scripture

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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