Faculty Urged to Embrace Open-Source Textbooks, Save Students Money

Librarians and an increasing number of faculty are pushing NJIT ahead of the curve in a statewide effort to replace expensive textbooks with free online alternatives for lower-level courses.

Free online course materials, which insiders refer to as open educational resources, can save money for students and be just as good or better than regular course material from traditional publishing companies.

Mathematics professor Kenneth Horwitz said students in all sections of his department's Math 107 class, which is pre-calculus for non-majors, pay just $27.95 for a semester's access to an online homework portal and nothing for their open-source textbook. As the course coordinator, he used to require a book that cost $300 and had little resale value because the examples and technology components change from year to year, but in 2018 he accepted a university grant to find a suitable open-source alternative.

"This is just one element of why college costs are so high," Horwitz said. Students are "all very appreciative of it," he added.

All universities in New Jersey are required by May 1 of this year to submit their open educational resources plan to the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, based on a law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on May 2, 2019. The law requires a survey of each university's vision, detailed plans, anticipated challenges, efforts already underway and intentions to collaborate with other colleges.

A similar initiative is making its way through Congress, but is currently stalled in committees.

Ann Hoang, head librarian, and Raymond Vasquez, research and user services librarian, are key players working on a response to the state requirement on behalf of the Van Houten Library. 

Starting in 2017, "NJIT, I believe, was the third institution in the state of New Jersey who implemented the open textbook plan," Hoang said, following Passaic County Community College and Rutgers University. "It was from students complaining that they are paying a lot," she said, along with conversations and insight gained from library conferences, that the decision was made to seek open educational resources as much as possible.

It's crazy, it really is. I provide all the materials to my students. I can say at this moment there is zero cost to my students.

Hoang fiercely believes in the plan. "I believe for us to combat having students using pirated copies, why not do it the right way? Why not just look for open resources? Why not find a way to make it open-source textbooks so they can use it anywhere," she emphasized.

NJIT experts could create and share open-source books, not just use works developed elsewhere, Hoang said. It's also easy to make changes to such books, unlike waiting for the slower pace of a conventional publishing company.

Hoang said the progress is steady yet slow. Where colleges in New York can get millions of dollars in state-funded grants to implement such programs, New Jersey doesn't yet offer funding. However there's been a spike in recent interest from professors, perhaps due in part to the coronavirus situation, she noted. About 15% of NJIT faculty expressed interest so far.

The plan being made by Van Houten staff and others at NJIT isn't final, but it tentatively is a five-year plan to communicate better with faculty, identify which courses are best suited to open books, develop metrics for evaluating their use and get more faculty to contribute their own works.

"It's crazy, it really is," said open textbook advocate Jim Shi, associate professor of supply chain management and finance in the Martin Tuchman School of Management. "I provide all the materials to my students. I can say at this moment there is zero cost to my students."

Shi said his next step is to develop open materials for graduate-level courses. "Nowadays, we move everything to be online so students can access a lot of material," he said. "Definitely, this is a good path for us to take."

Open educational materials can be found through the Van Houten library. State resources are linked here.