With an open access textbook initiative already implemented in British Columbia, one York professor feels that a similar mandate is possible in Ontario.
Richard Wellen, a York faculty of liberal arts and professional studies professor, has built a reputation as an analyst and researcher for open access academic journals. Wellen suggests open access textbooks at York could be used as a competitive advantage against other Ontario schools, and that publishers have a stranglehold over academic information.
“People pay a lot of money for textbooks that are meant for education. Academics don’t seem bothered by it because we benefit from the system,” says Wellen.“If the public is supporting higher education, why don’t they also support the provision of education materials?”
Wellen claims if York found a way to implement free open access textbooks, the university would have a competitive advantage over others.
“It could pressure other universities to do this,” he says. However, Wellen argues that if open textbook resources were offered to students in Ontario, it would have to be in partnership with the provincial government.
Wellen points to the open access program implemented by the British Columbia government, BC Campus, as a template for how this could be implemented in Ontario.
This government-funded program, still in its experimental stages, offers free open access textbooks to any student. These textbooks can be edited, modified, viewed online, and are available for free to anyone. BC Campus was launched in October 2012, and is currently looking to expand its reach and promote their resources to universities within British Columbia.
“We’ve been doing a lot of outreach with faculty to help them understand what these textbooks are and how they could be of value to them,” says Mary Burgess, director of curriculum services and applied research at BC Campus.Burgess says this open access textbook movement isn’t just about student savings, but also an attempt to improve access to higher education.
BC Campus faces multiple hurdles in making this movement a success. Professors have the final say on which resources they wish to use for their class, and BC Campus faces the challenge of persuading professors to use their resources.She says BC Campus aims to find professors who are early adopters, trendsetters, and professors who are still early in their career who might be willing to take on an open access textbook.
“The potential for student savings is really massive if professors are willing to try things out,” says Burgess. “We’re really focusing on the people who want to work with us at this point. We think that by shining a light on them, it will show other professors the value of these textbooks.”
Burgess suggests that one of the first steps to making open access textbooks a reality across Canada would be awareness for BC Campus. Pressure from students who want to lessen the blow of the costs of textbooks would be the next step.
“Students have a lot of power within institutions,” she adds.
“Talk to your faculty members to expose them to the idea. The reality is that professors don’t know that this is an option.”
Takashi Sato, a physics professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University has taken the opportunity to work with an open access textbook.
On the first day of classes, he provided students with a link to the book, saving his class of 40 students $11,000 collectively.
Sato says that with a large first-year physics class at York, the student savings would be even more drastic and with added support from his department, this might be something that is practiced again.
“The big impact is that there is no impact,” says Sato.“From the user’s point of view, it’s indistinguishable from any of the standard books we would use for this topic.”
One of the main criticisms that open access textbooks have received is that they are of a lower quality than textbooks provided by a publishing company.
However, according to BC Campus and Sato, the quality of each of these textbooks is on par with anything a publisher could supply. Physics 1010 at York has two required textbooks that are currently available at York’s bookstore. The entire package, which students are encouraged to purchase, is $200 per student.
Michael Burton
Executive Editor (Online)
