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Editorial: Cut books and cut costs with open course picks

Sun., Feb. 8, 2015

The average cost of a new textbook at the Eastern Washington University bookstore is $97. Welcome to higher education.

Students and professors have complained about book costs for decades, especially in the case of standard texts that are revamped every year or two with an extra comma or so, making the older volumes obsolete and worthless for resale. The high costs have become less defensible as more instructional material becomes available on the Internet.

Two bills introduced last week in the Washington Legislature are intended to lighten student book bags. One, House Bill 1958, would bar the assignment of any book costing more than $100 unless nothing cheaper was available and no “open course” substitutes for textbooks are available.

The second, House Bill 1973, would establish a model program at Eastern Washington University to encourage adoption of open course materials by providing up to 10 grants for faculty members who develop or obtain these alternatives to strict book-learnin’.

Of the two House bills, we prefer the incentive model to be tested at EWU with HB1973, rather than the proscriptions in HB1958.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst open education initiative would be the model and benchmark against which the EWU program would be measured.

But, as the bill itself acknowledges, one of the national models for the development of open course instruction is a lot closer than Amherst. Washington’s community college system pioneered open course, and remains a leader in the field.

The Washington Board for Community and Technical Colleges offers instructional materials for 81 courses that are used not just in Washington, but in any college that wants them – at no cost. The packages include course syllabi, readings, videos and assessments.

The most popular course, in pre-calculus, has been downloaded more than 120,000 times, and a $15 book containing the course material has sold 5,000 copies. Compare that price against online quotes. Usually, it takes multiplication.

Washington also provides 10 hours of training in how to use the courses to better engage students, and how instructors can develop their own curriculum if none of the 81 existing programs fit their requirements. They are free to modify the coursework as they choose.

Would-be developers are specifically taught how to avoid violating copyrights.

A 2013 survey returned by 780 faculty members on Washington campuses found many who appreciated open cource contributions to their courses and the cost savings for students: Last spring, student savings on texts exceeded $5 million since open courses were introduced.

Other professors said the material did not meet their standards, or did not save any money.

System officials say there have been no complaints that open courses diluted the quality of the classes, and course credits are transferring to four-year schools.

UMASS Amherst may have taken the open course concept to a new level, but the home team deserves recognition for its achievement.