Inflection Point: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2019

This study is one in a series designed to explore the process by which faculty members select and use the educational materials employed in their courses. The most common of these is the required textbook: faculty members typically choose one or more books that all students are required to use throughout the course. Faculty also employ a wide range of other materials -- some optional, others required for all students. In addition to examining the overall resource selection process, this study also explores the particular class of materials classified as Open Educational Resources (OER). This study also examines a new trend in the provision of course materials: inclusive access. Inclusive access agreements are an emerging distribution model that go by a variety of names, with no single clear definition. After decades of stability in the textbook market, the last five years have seen substantial changes in the selection process for course materials. The evidence suggests that even more change is coming. There is no indication that the pace of these changes is slowing. If anything, the next five years may see the pace of change accelerate. [For "Freeing the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2018," see ED616828.]