MTSU Textbook Program Continues to Expand, Reduce Costs for Students

The rising costs of textbooks have been a topic of conversation for years, but a group of MTSU faculty and staff is making it their mission to make course materials more affordable — and in turn keep students on track to earn their degrees.

For the last two and a half years, a group of MTSU faculty and staff have been using grant money to make required materials cost as little as possible using OER, or Open Educational Resources. Since 2019, that group has used $100,000 of that grant money through the Tennessee Board of Regents to save 2,500-plus students more than $150,000.

OER is defined as “teaching, learning, and research materials that are either in the public domain or licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute.”

Erica Stone, an associate professor of English and OER steering committee member, studied a segment of the MTSU student population and found that 42% of the students surveyed either had delayed access to their traditional materials or were never able to afford them at all.

The students surveyed also said they had to prioritize what textbooks they bought, sometimes forgoing the book for an elective or a general education course and spending the money on a textbook for a class in their major instead.

At MTSU, students are expected to budget on average $1,240 to $1,440 for books and supplies per academic year. However, the average college student will end up spending $415 because of costs.

To combat this issue, MTSU faculty members are using information already available free to the public or writing and publishing their own materials. In total, more than 70 faculty members in 25 different courses used OER in the most recent academic year.

Stone said that the free materials are just as high-quality as their expensive counterparts. In fact, once a student has access to an OER textbook, their professors can make updates to that textbook as necessary without requiring students to buy a new version.

“It’s dependent on us as faculty to continue making sure these resources are updated and available to all students,” Stone said.

OER access improving student performance

The benefits to students do not stop there. Stone says that students who use OER text have actually been more successful.

“Our data shows us that students’ engagement and connection between reading and performance were significantly higher when they were using OER materials,” she said.

One of the biggest benefits of OER, the committee says, is that it is so accessible. You can have a physical book, or it can be accessed on a computer, tablet or phone, making OER materials more equitable than traditional textbooks.

Stone said that OER materials are available to students on the first day of class, ensuring students don’t fall behind. Currently, some students have to wait on their financial aid check to clear before they can purchase expensive textbooks or software, putting them as many as three weeks behind.

Walker Library a strong OER partner

Moving forward, the steering committee is applying for more grants and continuing to encourage faculty and staff to earn the Creative Commons Certification. That certification ensures that faculty have a comprehensive knowledge of open education including Open Educational Resources and how to find and utilize OER materials.

The James E. Walker Library is also shouldering lots of responsibility when it comes to making these resources available for more students.

The library and Dean Kathleen Schmand are continuously adding to its online textbook collection as well as supporting PressBooks, an online platform that allows self-publishing of textbooks, articles and other documents that could be used in the classroom.

“Our main goal with OER is continuing to grow our collection of low-cost or free textbooks for students,” Schmand said. “OER is important to MTSU students, and the Walker Library is wholeheartedly involved in supporting it.”

The library recently hired a new chair of user services to act as the point person for OER, and they plan to add at least one more position to help facilitate all the work faculty members do to use OER materials.

Schmand said she conducted a survey with faculty last fall and the results overwhelmingly showed they were interested in working more with OER, which should lead to a more affordable experience at MTSU.

“We build our collections and provide subject support in ways that will continue to advance OER efforts on campus,” said Schmand. “Additionally, we have been in the midst of a strategic planning process, and we are already hearing from faculty that they plan to increase their OER across courses and students are mentioning textbook access and accessible resources as well.”

Lastly, the committee, along with a large group of faculty, wants to make sure that students and their parents know which courses are taught with OER. When selecting classes for the fall, students will be able to search “Open Educational Resources OER” in the attribute type.

To learn more visit MTSU.edu/OER.