Brian Evans, Economics Who am I?  I have taught Economics at Foothill College for 8 years.  Like many of you, I have been concerned about the costs of textbooks for my students.  I adopted an online book in Summer of  Did a simple student survey in W2010 to illustrate the potential cost savings.

Brian Evans, Economics Traditional vs Online Textbook Cost Comparison Surveyed 253 Introductory Econ students:  124 in a class using a traditional book (Colander 7th edition)  129 in a class using a free online book with option to buy Micro: Rittenberg & Tregarthen from Flatworld Knowledge Macro: Tim Taylor from TextbookMedia.

Brian Evans, Economics Factors Controlled for…  Class (Intro Econ)  Time (traditional times)  Timing (all surveys were given at time of Winter 2010 final exam)

Brian Evans, Economics Factors not controlled for…  Instructor Potentially different need for / emphasis placed on buying a text for the class.

Brian Evans, Economics Cost comparison  The 124 students using traditional textbook spent $10,867 cumulatively. An average of $  The 129 students using the online textbook spent $3,194 cumulatively. An average of $24.76.

Brian Evans, Economics Perspective  For one quarter of 4 classes of 40 students the difference is $10,060  For one year (3 quarters) + summer this will exceed $35,000

Brian Evans, Economics Other factors  Cost gap would be larger if we included drops and withdrawals.  Results could be reduced due to bookstore buybacks – however, few students do this: The FH bookstore bought back a total of 8 Econ books in the winter quarter.

Brian Evans, Economics Did students buy the book or only use the free online site?  68% (88/129) bought something (ranging from $2 for a used book to $100 for a new book from a different author  32% (41/129) bought nothing Finding: Most students wanted a physical copy of the book.

Brian Evans, Economics Of the 41 students that bought nothing...  … how often was the online site used 26% (10/39*) used online 3+ times per week 28% (11/39) used online weekly 33% (13/39) used online only to review for tests 13% (5/39) never used online Finding: Students may have used the online resource less than you might expect… *2 of 41 did not respond to this question

Brian Evans, Economics Were the 41 that bought nothing satisfied?  54% (19/35*) were happy with the online experience and glad they did not buy the book.  46% (16/35) felt online was ok but wished they had purchased the book  0% (0/35) felt the online experience was not good and wished they had purchased the book. Finding: Many that did not buy wished they had after the fact. *6 of 41 did not respond

Brian Evans, Economics Of the 88 that purchased a book…  … how often did they use the free online site? 3% (3/86*): 3+ / week 15% (13/86): weekly 21% (18/86): only for tests 60% (52/86): never Finding: Those that had a book hardly touched the online site  * 2 students did not respond to this question

Brian Evans, Economics Pros and cons of online textbooks  Advantages: Huge costs savings for students Portability Immediate access (great for online classes)  Disadvantages: Limited text options presently Students may choose free online option but find it hard to read/study

Brian Evans, Economics The assumption…  An assumption of economics is that if you do not paying the full costs of an action you will tend to discount the costs of that action.  With textbooks the teacher makes the decision but the student pays the costs.

Brian Evans, Economics The question… If you were going pay the full costs of books for your students one term … would you a. buy a traditional book for ≈ $11,000 b. buy an online book for ≈ $3,000