Published: February 13th, by Dr. Virginia Tucker

The high cost of traditional scholarly textbooks is a major barrier to student learning success in higher education, affecting first-generation and low-income students most severely (Martin et al., 2017; Nguyen & Herron, 2021). A pre-pandemic study reported that 66% of students reported not purchasing the assigned texts for at least one of their courses, while 25% reported working extra hours and 11% skipped meals to afford their textbooks (Nagle & Vitez, 2020). Textbook costs also influenced students’ decisions about which courses to take (Jenkins et al., 2020).

Open Education Resource (OER) scholarly textbooks can address this situation of students going without the course materials they need to fully engage with their learning. Yet in the environment of higher education, there has been the persistent perception that OER textbooks are of lower quality than those generated through traditional publishing processes (Irvine et al., 2021). As an author of textbooks published via both these channels, I decided to design a research project to explore what was necessary to develop top quality OER scholarly textbooks that could be offered at no or low cost to students in higher education.

During my sabbatical leave in 2024, I conducted this research project on the question: ‘What critical elements are necessary when designing an open education (OER) textbook for higher degree students, elements that ensure excellence in quality and the student learning experiences?’ As coordinator of the MLIS program’s required course on information retrieval system design, I chose this course for the new scholarly book. The research plan included multiple stages of user research and peer reviewing with domain experts. In addition, I secured two grants that funded a graduate research assistant, Camille Charette, who had professional experience as a copy editor. She not only did rigorous copyediting, but took the lead in the accessibility testing, using Adobe tools.

To support students in different learning modes, I developed the book with multimedia content, including embedded videos, captioned recordings, and supplemental readings. The study proper combined qualitative and quantitative methodologies in four phases of progressive research: (1) alpha test with semi-structured interviews and follow-up questionnaires (n=4); (2) domain expert peer reviews (n=10); (3) beta test pilot course with student questionnaires (n=58); and (4) course delivery (n=630) with student survey (n=102). We researched the theoretical literature in several areas, including Universal Design and threshold concepts, which had been the basis for the course’s design and conceptual framework (Tucker, 2018).

Three elements were found to be critical to creating a high quality OER scholarly textbook:

1. multiple stages of user research and testing with students,
2. peer reviews with subject matter experts (SMEs) to fully evaluate all textbook subtopics, and
3. accessibility testing to ensure inclusivity.

Two months ago, we published the project’s research design, results, and findings (Tucker & Charette, 2025).

Since the book was released in August 2024, it has been downloaded over 7,600 times. I have heard from LIS educators as far away as Australia and Indonesia who are using it in their classes on information retrieval. I am currently working on the next edition, making adjustments so that it will be easier to localize by instructors; for example, with in-context textboxes where institution-specific information may be included. The new edition will be available in the Open Textbooks Library.

Acknowledgements: I am most grateful to my graduate research assistant, Camille Charette, also to the book’s peer reviewers and user testing participants. The project was supported by three funding sources: my one-term sabbatical leave from the University; a five-month ten hour/week Graduate Research Assistantship; and an Affordable Learning Solutions grant.

References

Irvine, J., Kimmons, R., & Rogers, J. (2021, July). Recognizing and overcoming obstacles: What it will take to realize the potential of OER. EDUCAUSE Review, July 2021.

Jenkins, J. J., Sánchez, L. A., Schraedley, M. A. K., Hannans, J., Navick, N., & Young, J. (2020). Textbook broke: Textbook affordability as a social justice issue. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.549

Martin, M. T., Belikov, O. M., Hilton, J., III, Wiley, D., & Fischer, L. (2017). Analysis of student and faculty perceptions of textbook costs in higher education. Open Praxis, 9(1), 79–91. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.9.1.432 

Nagle, C., & Vitez, K. (2020). Fixing the broken textbook market. The Student Public Interest Groups. Washington, DC. https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/fixing-the-broken-textbook-market-second-edition/

Nguyen, D. J., & Herron, A. (2021). Keeping up with the Joneses or feeling priced out?: Exploring how low-income students’ financial position shapes sense of belonging. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(3), 429–440. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000191

Tucker, V. M. (2018). Threshold concepts and information experience in IL professional education: Curriculum design for online learning. Communications in Computer and Information Science, 810, 749-758. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74334-9_76

Tucker, V. M., & Charette, C. A. (2025). Elements for OER excellence: User research, expert peer reviews, and accessibility testing. Open Praxis, 17(4), 730–750. doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.17.4.930