open education Archives

Open Access at FSU Libraries: A Year in Review

Open access is a global movement to freely publish research in online repositories and open publications instead of the costly subscription-based publishing models that have dominated the scholarly publishing industry for decades. Paywalled research is only available to those who can afford to pay subscription costs, leaving many researchers and institutions around the world unable to access critical findings in their fields. Open access allows research to reach a wider, global audience and leads to greater readership, citation, and innovation. Authors can publish their work openly by archiving accepted manuscripts in institutional repositories like DigiNole, publishing completed drafts on preprint servers, or submitting to open access journals.

Open Initiatives at FSU

In 2016, the FSU Faculty Senate adopted an Open Access Policy that grants the Libraries permission to archive scholarly works created by FSU faculty. The policy is intended to increase the availability of research developed at FSU to readers and scholars around the world. The Libraries use mediated deposits and automated harvesting workflows to populate DigiNole, our institutional repository. A three-year review found steady growth in repository deposits since the Open Access Policy was implemented. This trend continued in 2019 which saw over 2,000 objects added to DigiNole. Departments with 100 or more DigiNole uploads this year include the Department of Psychology, the Department of Biological Sciences, and the National High Magnetic Field Lab.

Another way the Libraries support open access includes the Open Access Fund which helps authors publish in open journals. Some open access journals require authors to pay article processing charges (APCs) to finance the technical work that goes into preparing, publishing, and preserving web publications. APCs can cost upwards of $2,000 for some publishers. To help authors mitigate this expense, the Open Access Fund provides awards of up to $1,500 for qualified proposals. In 2019, the Libraries funded 38 open access articles with funding support support from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School, and the Office of the Provost.

Open access is not limited to research articles. Textbook costs have increased 82% since 2002 (nearly three times the rate of inflation), and textbook affordability for students is a growing concern nationwide.¹ Instructors are turning to open educational resources to reduce textbook costs. In the 2017-2018 academic year, 43% of students in Florida reported spending over $300 per semester on textbooks, and 64.2% of students were unable to purchase a textbook due to high costs.² Florida Virtual Campus hosted an Open Educational Resources Summit in the spring of 2018 where librarians and educators from across the state came together to discuss challenges and opportunities for implementing OER on their campuses. Mallary Rawls represented FSU Libraries at the Summit and reported on the event in a March blog post.

Instructors at FSU have been adopting open course materials and using resources from the Libraries to decrease textbook expenses for students. Dr. Vanessa Dennen in the Department of Education created an open textbook in 2018 and reported on student’s perceptions of the open materials in a recent issue of Online Learning. The Libraries published two open access textbooks this year in DigiNole to fill subject gaps in existing open materials.

Dr. Giray Ökten and Dr. Arash Fahim received Alternative Textbook Grant awards that helped transform their lecture notes into open mathematics textbooks. First Semester in Numerical Analysis with Julia and Financial Mathematics: Concepts and Computational Methods support subjects that are not well-covered by traditional textbooks in the field. The Alternative Textbook Grants have saved students $333,356 since 2016. Instructors can visit the Alternative Textbook Grants webpage for more information.

In addition to cost savings, open course materials have the added benefit of perpetual access. Unlike access codes and textbook rentals that are only available for a limited time, open materials are freely available online or through the library without access restrictions. With open online course materials, instructors can easily update textbooks with new material, and students can be assured they are accessing the most current version of the information. Open educational resources offer greater flexibility for instructors to customize their course content and increase textbook affordability for students.

Open access is critical for advancing the global knowledge commons and scientific innovation, and open educational resources promote student success by increasing the accessibility of course materials. The Libraries are proud of the progress we have made this year in furthering open access, and we look forward to continuing this important work in the future.

US GAO. (2013). College Textbooks: Students Have Greater Access to Textbook Information. https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-368
Florida Virtual Campus. (2018). 2018 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey. Web.

FSU Libraries Announce Alternative Textbook Grant Recipients

FSU Libraries is proud to announce the winners of our 2018-2019 round of Alternative Textbook Grants. The grant program, launched by the Libraries in November 2016, awards successful applicants with $1,000 to support the adoption or creation of open or library-licensed course materials that are available at no cost to students. These high-quality materials are written by experts and peer-reviewed, ensuring a level of intellectual and instructional rigor on par with expensive commercial equivalents.

Applications were evaluated based on criteria balancing the estimated savings to students, the openness of the proposed materials, and the likelihood of the materials being adopted by other courses at FSU.

Based on projected enrollment figures for the courses in question, the instructors participating in this round of the program are expected to save FSU students up to $167,800 by Fall 2019, and the total projected savings across all grant recipients since the program’s inception are expected to exceed $437,000.

Congratulations to this year’s winners! For more information about the open education movement and related initiatives at FSU, see our research guide on OER, or contact Devin Soper, Director of FSU Libraries’ Office of Digital Research & Scholarship.

2018-2019 Grant Recipients

John Bandzuh is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography. His research interests include health geography, political ecology, and vector-borne diseases. This is Bandzuh’s second alternative textbook grant. With his first grant, he used library-licensed journal articles in GEO4930 “Geography of Wine”. This year he plans to adopt an open textbook in his Summer 2019 World Geography course.

Kathleen Burnett is the F. William Summers Professor in the School of Information. Her research interests include Social Informatics, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity and IT, and Information Ethics. Dr. Burnett plans to author chapters for her own open textbook and incorporate online resources and videos in her Fall and Spring offerings of IDS2144 “Information Ethics in the 21st Century”.

Austin Bush is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography. His research interests include GIS, remote sensing, and spatial analysis. In lieu of a traditional textbook, he plans to use online mapping applications, scholarly articles, and videos in the Summer 2019 offering of GIS3015 “Map Analysis”.

Rob Duarte is a Professor in the Department of Art, co-director of the Facility for Arts Research, and Director of REBOOT Laboratory. Professor Duarte will adopt an open textbook for the new course “Interactive Art II: Electronic Objects” in Fall 2019. In the future, he plans to write his own companion to the text focusing on physical computing and electronic art.

Raphael Kampmann is an Assistant Professor in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the FSU-FAMU College of Engineering. His research interests include multi-axial failure behavior of concrete, construction materials, and destructive test methods. In place of a textbook, Dr. Kampmann will create his own course materials in the 2019-2020 offerings of EGM3512 “Engineering Mechanics”.

Jessica Malo is an adjunct professor of Arabic and Film Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Malo recently returned from a year of teaching English as a second language in Lebanon and published her first work of Arabic poetry “لو مشى معي قرص الشمس” (If the Disk of Sun Would Walk With Me). She will adopt an open textbook on Middle Eastern history and Culture in upcoming offerings of IDS3450 “Through an Arabic Lens: The Intersection of Film and Culture”.

Lisa Munson is Teaching Faculty in the Department of Sociology. She studies social inequality and social justice, particularly public sociology – applying sociological knowledge to promote social justice in the community. Dr. Munson was also one of the 2018 Alternative Textbook Grant recipients for a Sociology course taught in Florence in which she used an open textbook. With this grant, she will use an open textbook and journal articles in the Summer 2019 offering of SYP4570 “Deviance and Social Control”.

Alysia Roehrig is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems. Dr. Roehrig’s research interests focus on issues related to effective teaching, particularly exploring the successes of students labeled at risk for school failure. She will use chapters from two open textbooks on research methods in the Summer 2019 online offering of EDF5481 “Methods of Educational Research”.

Zoe Schroder is Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography. Some of her research interests include meteorology, climatology, and severe weather patterns. In place of a textbook, Schroder will incorporate government climate reports and journal articles in the Summer 2019 offering of GEO4251 “Geography of Climate Change and Storms”.

Michael Shatruk is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His lab researches photo-switchable molecular materials, intermetallic magnets for magnetic refrigeration and electric vehicles, and low-dimensional magnetic materials such as spin-frustrated 2D magnets and nanomagnets. Dr. Shatruk received two grants this academic year to support the adoption and creation of open course materials. With a grant from International Programs, he will adopt an open textbook for CHM1020 at the Valencia study center this summer. With funding from the Libraries, he and his colleagues will develop an open-access online laboratory manual for a new undergraduate Materials Chemistry laboratory course offered in Spring 2020.

International Programs Grant Recipients

Lydia Hanks is an Associate Professor in the Dedman School of Hospitality. Dr. Hanks’ teaching areas include hospitality accounting, lodging operations, and service management. She will use an open textbook in the Summer 2019 offering of HFT2716 “International Travel and Culture” in Florence, Italy.

Cynthia Johnson is Specialized Teaching Faculty in the Dedman School of Hospitality. Her teaching areas include introductory hospitality, internationals tourism, and club and golf course management. She will adopt an open access textbook and other alternative resources in the Summer 2019 offerings of HFT3240 “Managing Service Organizations” and HFT 2716 “International Travel and Culture” in Nice, France.

Patrick Merle is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Director of the Integrated Marketing Program. His teaching interests include International Public Relations, Political Communication, and Public Relations Techniques. Dr. Merle will adopt open textbooks in PUR4400 “Crisis Communication” offered in Summer 2019 in Florence, Italy.

Anthony Rhine is a Professor in the School of Theatre and Director of the Theatre Management program. Dr. Rhine teaches courses on Audience Development and Arts Marketing, Project Management, and Resource Management. He will use an open textbook and a library licensed e-book in the Summer 2019 offering of MAN3240 “Organizational Behavior” at the Valencia study center.

Jimmy Yu is an Associate Professor of Chinese Buddhism in the Department of Religion. He teaches courses in Chinese religious traditions, with an emphasis in Buddhism and Daoism. Dr. Yu will use library-licensed e-books and articles in the Summer 2019 offering of REL3340 “Buddhist Tradition” at the London study center.

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY JOINING OPEN TEXTBOOK NETWORK TO ADDRESS AFFORDABILITY CONCERNS

Florida State University Libraries is joining the Open Textbook Network (OTN) to encourage broader adoption of free, openly licensed textbooks and course materials that are available at no cost to students. The OTN is an alliance of 600 institutions working together to promote access, affordability, and student success through the use of open textbooks.

The cost of commercial course materials has risen at 300% the rate of inflation since 1978, and research suggests that this trend has a number of negative impacts on student success. According to the College Board, undergraduates spend an average of $1200 on textbooks annually. Faced with these costs, many students choose to not buy a required text, make do with an older edition, or take fewer courses — and some even drop or fail a course completely.

In addition to hosting the Open Textbook Library, arguably the premier source of peer-reviewed open textbooks, the OTN promotes broader adoption of these resources at member institutions through:

Faculty development workshops to support instructors in identifying and adopting open textbooks for their classes;
Staff training to enhance institutional support for open textbook adoption on campus;
Collecting data to demonstrate the impact of open textbook adoptions on affordability and student success.

“As only the second university in Florida to join the OTN, FSU is positioned to become a statewide leader on textbook affordability,” said Julia Zimmerman, Dean of University Libraries. “We believe that this membership will yield significant benefits for faculty and students across the University, providing our faculty and staff with expert training on how to find, evaluate, and implement open textbooks, and generating tremendous savings to students as a result.”
To date, OTN member institutions have saved their students over $8.5 million dollars on course materials. The Open Textbook Library includes over 400 titles, the vast majority of which have been peer-reviewed by experts across the country. Further, the OTN reports that approximately 40% of participants in its faculty development workshops go on to adopt open textbooks in their courses, resulting in near-immediate savings for students without compromising academic freedoms or integrity.

FSU Libraries plans to host OTN workshops for faculty and staff in Fall 2018, during International Open Access Week, Oct. 22-28. These workshops follow the University’s first Open Education Symposium, which the Libraries hosted in March 2018. More details about the Fall 2018 workshops will be announced as they become available.

For more information about FSU’s OTN membership or the Libraries’ Open & Affordable Textbook Initiative, contact Devin Soper (dsoper@fsu.edu | 850.645.2600). For more information about open textbooks and educational resources, more generally, visit http://guides.lib.fsu.edu/oer.