The increasing cost of textbooks pose a financial burden for students, with some researchers hypothesizing that the high price of course materials may result in students opting to not purchase the text and being under-prepared for the course or taking fewer classes per semester, both resulting in a delay to graduation (Florida Virtual Campus, 2012). On the other hand, the adoption of Open textbooks have been associated with improved student grades, lower withdrawal rates, and higher concurrent and subsequent enrollments (Fischer, Hilton, Robinson, & Wiley 2015; Hilton & Laman, 2012).
Continuing the evaluation of Endes & Howard (2016), the goal of this study was to determine whether student performance at a large open-enrollment Alaska university would differ when using traditional publisher materials compared to open educational resources. Comparing additional data collected over four semesters (one using traditional textbook materials, three using Open educational resources), there appear to be no statistically significant differences in student performance on unit exams. Student feedback slightly favors the use of Open resources, with students specifically citing the free Open textbook as a factor associated with their success. Considerations for adoption and implementation will be discussed.
