Inside Higher Ed: UC Clermont professor writes open-access textbook to promote affordability

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