Open Source: The Affordable Future of College Textbooks

UPEN SOURCE (THE AFFORDABLE FUTURE OF COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS) s students everywhere know, college A textbook prices are through the TYPES OF OPEN BOOKS roof. The average student pays $900 per year on books alone. Fortunately, edu- cators and innovators are pioneering a revolutionary way to bring these costs down: open textbooks. Open textbooks allow students to choose the way they read: from a digital copy for free, a self printed file, or a paid print copy. Open textbooks are dramatically cheaper than DIGITAL SELF COPY PRINT normal textbooks because of this flex- ibility. The only problem: big publishers don't want you to know about them. PRINT COPY THE COST OF OPEN BOOKS %3D COLLE POOT 1 OPEN SOURCE BOOK 1 WEEK OF COFFEE 1 YEAR OF OPEN SOURCE SEASON FOOTBALL BOOKS TICKETS & SNACKS AT THE GAME NEW TEXTBOOKS OPEN USED BOOKS, RENTAL BOOKS, & E-BOOKS BOOKS VS VS $184 $598 $900 PER YEAR PER YEAR PER YEAR THE PRICE GOES DOWN $68 $83 $131 $17 THE AVERAGE THE AVERAGE ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOK THE AVERAGE THE AVERAGE RENTAL TEXTBOOK USED TEXTBOOK NEW TEXTBOOK -$51 -$83 -$95 -$107 $17 $36 $64 A DIGITAL & SELF A DIGITAL COPY OF AN A BLACK AND WHITE A COLOR COPY OF AN PRINTED OPEN BOOK OPEN BOOK COPY OF AN OPEN BOOK OPEN BOOK IF STUDENTS MADE THE SWITCH TO OPEN BOOKS $5.4K A 50 student algebra class would save $5.4K, around the same price as a vacation to Europe. A 100 student calculus class would save $13.2K, about the price of a new sound system. $13.2K A 185 student physics $24K class would save $24K, around the same price as a new car. HOW WOULD STUDENTS USE OPEN BOOKS? Of students would be willing 60% 76* to pay a small fee to subsidize the production of open textbooks. 40% WOULD BUY PRINTED COPIES. WOULD USE FREE, DIGITAL COPIES. 71% 33% OF THESE WOULD USE BLACK & WHITE. OF THESE WOULD PAY EXTRA TO PRINT OUT. FRIENDS & ENEMIES flatworld KNOWLEDGE 'eading the open books charge is Flat world knowledge, who pioneered the multi-format system. There are currently 20 open titles and 50 forthcoming, and authors receive royalties for their work. ADVOCATES OF OPPONENTS OF OPEN BOOKS OPEN BOOKS The Bill and Melinda The Association of American Publishers. represented by former VP of Hill & Gates Foundation The William and Flora Hewlett It's clear that open textbooks would pro- vide an incredible solution to the ever- Knowlton, which is best known for doing PR for Big Tobacco and organizing false testimony before Congress in order to start the Gulf War. Foundation Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worsening problem of huge textbook costs for college students. The next step is to convince our colleges and universities to embrace the format, and to make sure big publishers don't get their way. Student Public Interest Research Groups All data based on current averages. Created by OnlineSchools.Org Online S SCHOOLS http://www.edutopia.org/california-open-source-digital-textbooks http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/grant-to- Jaunch-w rwashington-state-student-completion-initiative-og1014 aspx http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education-program/open- educational-resources http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/09/magazine/what-hill- knowton-can-do-for-you-and-what-it-couldn-t-do-for- itselfhtml?pagewanted-all&src-pm http://www.calpirgstudents.org/uploads/74/80/74B035ae5bada5da e46f40517401foef/A-Cover-To-Cover-Solution.pdf http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/05/california- launches-open-source-digital-textbook-initiative.ars