Presented at the Open Education Global Conference in Banff Canada on April 22, 2015.

1. The Open Textbook Network
Collectively Helping Institutions and
Faculty Overcome Barriers to Adoption
of Open Textbooks
David Ernst, PhD
University of Minnesota

2. What are the barriers that keep
faculty from adopting open
textbooks?

3. Barriers to Faculty Adoption
• Faculty don’t understand the urgency of student financial
stress, and how it can impact students academically
• Faculty aren’t aware that open textbooks are an option
• Faculty don’t know what open textbooks are
• Faculty confuse open textbooks with electronic textbooks
• Faculty don’t know where to find open textbooks
• Faculty are skeptical of the quality of open textbooks
• Faculty have limited time to engage in reviewing open
textbooks
EducateEngage

5. +
+

7. 39%
Adoption rate of workshop attendees
(14% - 65%)

10. 0 0
5
1
8
41
60
65
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1.0 - 1.5 1.5 - 2.0 2.0 - 2.5 2.5 - 3.0 3.0 - 3.5 3.5 - 4.0 4.0 - 4.5 4.5 - 5.0
Reviews
Ratings
Faculty Reviews of Textbooks in the Open Textbook Library
open.umn.edu

13. …

14. • help faculty overcome barriers to adoption of open textbooks
(faculty workshop & reviews)
• increase institutional capacity to support faculty adoption and
use of open textbooks (staff workshop, summer institute,
toolkit)
• collaboratively develop new understandings and best practices
of open textbook adoption and use (adoptions, student
savings, textbook quality, stories of success)
The Open Textbook Network (OTN) is a consortium of
institutions working to:
Cost: $5,000 ($10,000 - $5,000 subsidized by the Hewlett
Foundation)

15. For more information
Open Textbook Library: open.umn.edu
Open Textbook Network: z.umn.edu/otnetwork
Or contact me: David Ernst dernst@umn.edu
(Under construction)