Inside Higher Ed: UC Clermont professor writes open-access textbook to promote affordability
Video etext represents growing trend in education
Inside Higher Ed recently spoke to UC Clermont accounting Professor Patty Goedl about an interactive accounting resource she created that has saved students more than $100,000 so far.
In 2020, Goedl watched the average cost of a digital accounting textbook soar from approximately $30 per student to more than $200. Students were struggling to afford the resource they needed to succeed in class.
At first, Goedl negotiated with the publisher to decrease the cost of the textbook; but soon, the price rose again.
So, she created her own.
Three years later, “Principles of Managerial Accounting” is now published as an OER, or open-education resource, by University of Cincinnati Press. The open-access digital textbook, which features videos, quizzes and other interactive features, is peer-reviewed and available for free to anyone through the UC Press website.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to break free, and I’m going to write a book that is as high-quality as the book that I use from the publisher, and I’m going to write it as an OER,” Goedl told Inside Higher Ed.
Goedl’s “video etext,” as she describes it, is part of a larger OER movement within higher education. Students are fans, too — Goedl’s spring 2023 survey found 89% of students prefer her etext and video format to a traditional textbook, and 85% believe the etext and videos are an equivalent resource to a standard publisher textbook.
“I hope that this textbook does inspire faculty to at least examine textbook costs and realize that, even if they don’t want to write it themselves, that there is content available,” Goedl said.
Read the full story from Inside Higher Ed.
Featured image at top: UC Clermont Professor Patty Goedl. Photo/Danny Kidd
About UC Clermont
UC Clermont College is in Clermont County on 91 beautifully wooded acres in Batavia Township. The college is an accredited, open-access college offering more than 60 associate degrees, certificates and bachelor’s degrees. UC Clermont is part of the nationally recognized University of Cincinnati. For more information, call 513-556-5400 or visit www.ucclermont.edu.
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