Pros and cons of free textbooks

[downer]

I've been using free online textbooks for my community college courses now for about a year.

They are pretty good, and since they are online, they get updated and corrected more frequently than mainstream publisher textbooks.

But I'm also aware that some of the textbooks out there are better than the free ones I use. Better written, more comprehensive, and fewer typos. They also have more online support materials for both instructors and students.

So I'm not completely sold on the idea that free textbooks are the future. It's not obvious to me that the majority of students benefit from my using them compared to the ones they would pay for.

[mamselle]

Especially if there are typos, I wouldn't use them.

Students need as many good examples of language use as we can put into their hands.

Unless you use them as a teaching tool/moment, I suppose.

You could have a class rally going on who spots an error and offers the correction, correctly, first.

M.

[ciao_yall]

There is no free lunch.

Why would some organization pay to create a free textbook when publishers create and sell books? Students can buy the previous edition for very cheap.

Let's see who is writing "free" textbooks or otherwise trying to influence education.

Economics.
Biology.
Biology.
Political Science.
And my personal favorite... World History.

Is it really worth it?

[Ruralguy]

In my field, the big open access book is a former print book. It's maybe a shade more imperfect than the text I was using that costs 200 bucks and changes stuff around every couple of years just to mess up people. Using old editions. So, I got frustrated, and just use the open access.

[jerseyjay]

For an online course I have taught at a community college I use the American YAWP (http://www.americanyawp.com/), which is available free online. I did not choose this textbook; it was chosen by the department. I personally preferred the textbook I was using, but that is because I liked the textbook I was using. Other textbooks, in my mind, were not so good as the YAWP. The YAWP is edited and written by genuine professors and has some relationship with Stanford.

I have taken an online English course where the readings were all taken from the web, but that is not exactly the same as a textbook. You can, for example, find copies of Shakespeare's plays on the Folger Shakespeare Library's site (https://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-works). But again, this is something different.

The benefit of online resources is that they do not cost the student much money. Of course, you are limited by what is out there. So I would say you would have to judge it concretely--Online Book A vs Commercial Book B.

I am sold on the idea of free college textbooks in the same way I am sold on the idea of public school children having free textbooks. Of course neither is really free, but the result of a decision that the consumer should not cover the cost.

[dismalist]

There is no free lunch.

Why would some organization pay to create a free textbook when publishers create and sell books? Students can buy the previous edition for very cheap.

Let's see who is writing "free" textbooks or otherwise trying to influence education.

Economics.
Biology.
Biology.
Political Science.
And my personal favorite... World History.

Is it really worth it?

There's a lot more variety than that for econ, at least.

https://www.aeaweb.org/rfe/showCat.php?cat_id=92

My guess is that textbooks that are not paid for can be good if the material is fairly standardized, as it is for the first two pairs of econ courses.

[Parasaurolophus]

The best logic textbooks are all open-access. Some even come with open-access software.

There are many fine logic textbooks from publishing houses, but at this point there's no point in using them. And those that come with software basically exist just to sell the software licenses, which in turn has led them to develop software that presents the material in weird, idiosyncratic ways, and to de-prioritize sample problem sets in order to maximize interaction with the weird software.

So, yeah. There's no downside for me. And if it's not logic that I'm teaching, then a textbook is a waste compared to just assigning articles and chapters. (Plus, abandoning the textbook gives you more control over course content.)

So, for my field, I just don't see the point of using textbooks produced for profit.

[downer]

There is a separate discussion to be had whether it is a good idea to use textbooks. However, I am clear that it is not a productive approach to use only primary sources in these classes, and generally articles and chapters are too difficult for the students in my classes. Textbooks are written in simpler language, aimed at the kind of students I teach.

[Aster]

Much depends on the academic discipline. Some fields (e.g., computer programming, environmental science) update the academic content frequently every few years.

For fields that update their academic content a bit less frequently (e.g., history, chemistry), it is still a good idea to operate with a textbook publisher that you know will hire professionals to at least confirm that the academic content is still up to date.

And even with textbooks where the academic content is not expected to change much, presentation, assessment, and overall pedagogy styles will still update. For professors that like to stick with the times, those updates alone can be worth it.

Also, with college textbooks, it is important to know that it's not always about just you or your students. If you are working at an institution that selects just one textbook per course, AND there are multiple professors teaching that course, it is usually important to ensure that whatever book is selected will account for new professors coming in, and the students that are taught by those professors. Those new professors will often need a lot of help with their preps. And usually the best place to get that extra help is with a professional textbook, that may come with lesson plans, published assessments, test banks, etc... Rarely will you get much or any of that with free textbooks. This is an especially valuable point if your institution is a community college that relies on large ratios of temporary adjunct labor. A responsible department head or TT professor will think about the needs of his/her adjunct professors first before he thinks just about him/herself.

Free textbooks are rarely maintained past their original publication edition. And if they are, the updating is usually inconsistent, incomplete, and unreliable. Heck, it may even be wrong. As other have said, there is no "free lunch".

[ciao_yall]

So, for my field, I just don't see the point of using textbooks produced for profit.

Again, cynical me. Who gains from producing textbooks for non-profit?

There is a separate discussion to be had whether it is a good idea to use textbooks. However, I am clear that it is not a productive approach to use only primary sources in these classes, and generally articles and chapters are too difficult for the students in my classes. Textbooks are written in simpler language, aimed at the kind of students I teach.

Textbooks also tend to use a consistent theoretical frame though the book, so learning can be scaffolded using the same words and concepts. It's not that one is necessarily better than the other.

For example, if there is a Consumer Decision Model, one which takes 5 steps, the other which takes 7 steps, it's helpful if the book chooses one, sticks to it, and refers back and forth to the same nomenclature. At the end of the day, Consumers (1) identify a need; (Penultimate) buy the thing that satisfies the need; (Ultimate) evaluate their choice and identify a new need.

$$$ Textbooks don't always do a great job of the above either, but for the previous edition at $20, who cares? It costs more than that to print a "free" version at the local copy shop (if yours is still even in business these days).

[Parasaurolophus]

So, for my field, I just don't see the point of using textbooks produced for profit.

Again, cynical me. Who gains from producing textbooks for non-profit?

The author gets kudos and a rep boost, if that's what you mean. Plus a textbook that exactly matches their own class needs.

One of the best logic textbooks is forall X, and it actually allows instructors to customize the content for their courses (the Calgary and UBC remixes seem like the most popular).

There are several other great ones out there including, as I said, with software. This is just how logicians make textbooks now. There are good traditional textbooks out there too, but now that we have these, there's not much point to them.

[downer]

Presumably at teaching-oriented schools, creating a free textbook could help a faculty member with tenure and promotion. Creating any textbook can count for those purposes.

For free online textbooks I have seen, there is still the option to pay for a bound printed copy. I don't know how many people do that, but it might generate a little cash.

[marshwiggle]

So, for my field, I just don't see the point of using textbooks produced for profit.

Again, cynical me. Who gains from producing textbooks for non-profit?

The author gets kudos and a rep boost, if that's what you mean. Plus a textbook that exactly matches their own class needs.

This is exactly like a lot of open-source software. Someone writes it for his/her own needs, and then gives it away to whoever wants to use it. If I need something, and I can make it for myself, I don't necessarily care about trying to even find out if there's anyone who'll pay me for it. I'm just happy I can save others the time I had to spend creating it.

[mamselle]

Presumably at teaching-oriented schools, creating a free textbook could help a faculty member with tenure and promotion. Creating any textbook can count for those purposes.

For free online textbooks I have seen, there is still the option to pay for a bound printed copy. I don't know how many people do that, but it might generate a little cash.

I think it has to go through regular publication channels to count for T& P.

They'll start by looking for an ISBN  number in the right categories, for starters.

M.

[downer]

Presumably at teaching-oriented schools, creating a free textbook could help a faculty member with tenure and promotion. Creating any textbook can count for those purposes.

For free online textbooks I have seen, there is still the option to pay for a bound printed copy. I don't know how many people do that, but it might generate a little cash.

I think it has to go through regular publication channels to count for T& P.

They'll start by looking for an ISBN  number in the right categories, for starters.

M.

It's not as if there's a national procedure for this. But there is certainly buzz around open access textbooks. I have been encouraged by at least one place to use them, and they are cropping up more and more. Exactly how a tenure and promotion committee or a dean will assess the value will vary, but presumably an enterprising faculty member will try to get something in writing about it counting ahead of time.