A comprehensive needs analysis is crucial to guide the design and teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses. However, a number of studies neglect certain elements of needs analysis, which can result in problems in subsequent stages of ESP teaching. This mixed-method study aimed to identify the problems that higher education ESP…

Open Educational Resources (OER) are online teaching and learning resources available for instructors and students to utilize at no cost to them. This case study reports on the impact of OER resources on students' academic performance in an undergraduate introductory astronomy course at a 4-year private university. As part of this study, we…

Textbooks are an integral component of the higher education process. However, a great deal of concern about the high costs of college textbooks has been expressed by those inside and outside of higher education. The authors focus on the results of a pilot study of a survey of marketing professors' criteria and use of textbooks and their reactions…

Open textbooks have been developed in response to rising commercial textbook costs and copyright constraints. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine open textbooks with varied findings. The purpose of this study is to meta-analyze the findings of studies of postsecondary students comparing learning performance and course withdrawal rates…

Rising textbook costs have prompted the development of open-source textbooks to increase access to education. The purpose of this case report is to examine open-source textbook adoption through the COUP framework (costs, outcomes, use, and perceptions) comparing a semester with a commercial textbook to a semester with an open-source textbook.…

The high cost of tuition and textbooks can have a negative impact on potential students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Open Educational Resources (OER) offers students a way to save educational costs while utilizing high-quality open textbooks. Up until now, there have been few studies focused on a specific provider of open textbooks. This…

Advocates for student voice in higher education believe students should have the right and power to engage in much of the decision-making traditionally dominated by instructors or administrators. This qualitative study examines the role of student voice in the evaluation of textbook quality. Evaluators included two graduate students enrolled in a…

Research indicates that students find open educational resources (OER) favorable, but there is no research regarding students' perceptions of faculty who use open textbooks. In the present study we examined this topic experimentally with two undergraduate psychology courses at a small public university. Participants read two passages--one about an…

More community college professors are replacing expensive commercial textbooks with no-cost open educational resources (OER) to help make college more affordable for their students. With students having no financial reason to delay or forgo textbook purchases, many instructors also expect OER adoption will lead to improvements in academic outcomes…

This study uses Internet survey methodology to target management instructors' views on the cost of textbooks and the strategies that might be exercised by universities, publishers, and legislatures to control cost increases. From a random sample of 2,893 management professors selected, using university websites, from universities throughout the…

This article takes a first look at the major issues and trends that are currently being seen in 2019 emerging in the region's legislatures related to higher education and workforce development. Topics include: affordability, student loan debt, and college closures/mergers/acquisitions/collaborations. Other bills touch on emerging issues:…

This study evaluated a coordinated and collaborative pilot implementation of open educational resources (OER) across multiple disciplines including nursing, accounting, environmental science, religious studies, and finance. Participating faculty were qualitatively surveyed regarding their experience creating and implementing OER in a course.…

Aim/Purpose: The exorbitant cost of traditional textbooks, which particularly impact low-income, underrepresented minority groups, can be a barrier to student success in higher education that contributes to educational inequities. The aim of this multi-methodology study, conducted at a mid-Atlantic minority-serving institution that serves…

This note from the field reviews the sustainability of an institution-wide program for adopting and adapting open and alternative educational resources (OAER) at Kansas State University (K-State). Developed in consult of open textbook initiatives at other institutions and modified around the needs and expectations of K-State students and faculty,…

Open educational resources (OER), which are free and openly licensed educational materials, have been a widely discussed topic in response to high textbook costs, the need for more pedagogical flexibility, and inequality in access to educational materials. In this study we examine the efficacy of OER through a quantitative analysis of the impact…