What are your attitudes to textbooks? Share your views!

Distance Learning — October 31st, 2020

Do you prescribe textbooks in your courses? Have you thought about how students are accessing and using them? Share your attitudes about textbooks via this survey!

Do you use prescribed textbooks in your teaching? What factors influence your textbook selection? Did you experience issues with using textbooks during the COVID-19 lockdown?

Research suggests that textbook costs impact negatively on student behaviour, such as their choice of course or programme and academic achievement (Brown, Bajaj, & Luo, 2020; Stein, Hart, Kearney & White, 2017). With the sudden pivot to all online teaching due to COVID-19 lockdowns, issues with textbook cost have intensified as the cost and restrictive licenses of e-textbooks makes it difficult for university libraries to provide alternative access.

A research group with members from the University of Canterbury and the University of Otago are gathering data via a national survey to gain an understanding of why academics choose to use textbooks and what influences their choices.

Tell us about how you use textbooks in your teaching. Please follow this link to participate in the survey. The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete, with all responses being anonymous.

For more information, please contact fiona.tyson@canterbury.ac.nz

Richard White | Manager Copyright & Open Access | University of Otago

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