By Eva Fisch
Posted Tuesday, 18 March 2025

Reflecting the diversity of Australian classrooms

When Dr Iori Hamada searched for a textbook to assign to her first-year Japanese language class at Monash, she was frustrated. The commercially available textbooks were expensive, outdated and largely written for American audiences. 

What she wanted were materials to make Japanese language education more inclusive, relevant, and engaging for learners in our increasingly diverse world. So she decided to make her own.

Rather than go down a commercial route, Dr Hamada decided to try something different. She worked with Monash University Library to develop an Open Educational textbook, Introductory Japanese 1.

She created a free, comprehensive, interactive online textbook accessible to all. She set the textbook in an Australian context to make it more relevant for her students and brought together a unique blend of cultural and gender perspectives.

Alex, a non-binary learner who reviewed the materials, shared, “For the first time, I feel seen in a language textbook. It’s not just about learning Japanese, but about learning how to express my full self in another language.”

“For the first time, I feel seen in a language textbook. It’s not just about learning Japanese, but about learning how to express my full self in another language.”

In a speech at Monash University, Matheson Library (October, 2022), Dr Hamada reflected that the book can be easily shared with all learners regardless of financial constraints. High school students in rural Australia, retirees in New Zealand or young professionals in Indonesia – all will be able to access this resource. “It’s about breaking down barriers, bridging cultures, and opening minds.“

Disrupting the legacy of sexist, racist and out-of-date textbooks

A 2022 study from the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success found Dr Hamada’s experience was not an isolated one (Lambert and Fadel, 2022). Led by Dr Sarah Lambert from Deakin University, the study investigated the potential for open textbooks to improve student experiences and outcomes in higher education. 

The study described a legacy of sexist, racist and out-of-date textbooks being used in Australia that was negatively impacting students. These textbooks were problematic not only by what they included, but also by the voices and perspectives that they omitted. 

Lambert’s informants described their texts as follows:  “barely [are] women mentioned. It’s all about the men. Even the textbook for retail management, which is a female dominated workforce, did not have women visible in it.”  (Lambert and Fadel, 2022, p. 23).

Traditional textbooks can lack an appreciation of diversity, reinforcing stereotypes or simply not including local case studies. 

Contrast this with another, newly-published, Monash University OER textbook – Preparing Learners for Uncertainty in Health Professions.  The authors, Michelle Lazarus and Georgina Stephens, attempted to represent a range of gender identities and cultural experiences throughout and included a chapter called “Planetary Health: Learning from First Nations’ Knowledges and Voices”.

Making learning affordable

Commercial textbooks are expensive – the costs pose a significant barrier for students.  This has only been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis which has hit university students particularly hard (Madigan, 2024) .

More than half the students interviewed in the Lambert and Fadel study were shocked at the cost of their textbooks, reporting the level of use did not justify the costs. 

James Cook University Library did a deep dive across its 72 first-year core subjects. The collective cost for the first year cohort was more than $2.1 million (James Cook University Library, 2024). A 2020 US survey found two-thirds of students did not buy their textbooks due to costs (Nagle & Vitez, 2020). The high price of textbooks also can impact student retention (Lambert and Fadel, 2022). 

Access to commercial textbooks through the Library can be fraught, often only available to libraries in print. Even if they are available digitally, they may allow for only a handful of users at a time, even in high-enrolment units. As a consequence, students may struggle for access during critical study times.  

If we are to provide a world leading student experience, this is an area we must improve.

Innovation in education

Around the world, educators are taking matters into their own hands by replacing commercial textbooks with Open Educational Resources that are free for students to use and easily updated (UNESCO, 2023). 

Around the world, educators are taking matters into their own hands by replacing commercial textbooks with Open Educational Resources that are free for students to use and easily updated.

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are licensed to promote global use, lend themselves to  adaptation and include a wide array of learning, teaching and research materials. 

Their use in higher education and short courses is a powerful trend – particularly overseas – and is driven by the need to make education more inclusive and equitable (UNESCO, 2020). OERs have the potential to democratise education, reduce costs and remove barriers by promoting reuse. They enable lifelong learning. 

They disrupt traditional – and what some describe as broken – publishing models. These models include unnecessary new editions, which limit student resale (Zomer, 2007), restrictive licences on digital textbooks, which constrain library lending, and the refusal of some publishers to offer digital content to libraries.

What are we doing about it?

The Australian Universities Accord identified OERs as an opportunity. In their report they said: “Missing from that landscape of open access resources are quality assured, research-informed and student-centred learning materials designed in and for Australian HE institutions.” (Department of Education, 2024, p.149)

This is something that the Australian Council of University Librarians (CAUL) sought to address. In 2021 it established the OER Collective, announcing a shared publishing platform, PressBooks. 

On the back of that announcement, Monash University Library kicked off our pilot project to partner with academics and produce quality, peer-reviewed Open Educational texts.

Last year we published our first book about qualitative research; the most successful title to date within the CAUL Collective project.  It includes a chapter from an indigenous expert, highlighting practices, messages, and ways of living through the use of yarning circles.  

Recently, working under the auspices of almost every university in Australia, academics have been creating OERs for their disciplines. There is now a corpus of a few dozen homegrown open access texts available to the Australasian university community for free use.

Global impact

While textbooks do not always count as research outputs, they have the potential to influence teaching and disciplinary practices and add to Monash’s international influence. Our first OER, Qualitative Research – a practical guide for health and social care researchers and practitioners has had 96,000 visitors in 2024, and 163,500 page views demonstrating impact through its use in higher education institutions from Ireland, Canada,  El Salvador, and Rhode Island  It has been adopted in several Monash courses including our very popular Qualitative Research Methods short course.

How can the library help?

Can these new, quality OERS be assigned in parallel with or instead of any of the commercial books in your course? Do you have ideas for adaptations, or for a new textbook to close a gap in your discipline? We are not silent partners but can help you with practical publishing support, copyright expertise and alert you to grant opportunities.  Contact Librarians@monash.edu to start the conversation.

References

Department of Education (2024,  February 21). Australian University Accord final report. https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/final-report

James Cook University Library (2024). Textbook Affordability Project 2024-2025. https://www.jcu.edu.au/library/open/textbook-affordability-project-2024-2025#:~:text=JCU%20Library%202023%20textbook%20cost,prescribed%20textbooks%20for%20core%20subjects.

Lambert, S & Fadel, H  (2022). Open textbooks and social justice: A national scoping study. National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education.https://www.acses.edu.au/app/uploads/2022/02/Lambert_OpenTextbooks_FINAL_2022.pdf

Madigan, M (2024, July 25). ‘Struggle’: Reality of being an Australian university student right now. news.com.au. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/struggle-reality-of-being-an-australian-university-student-right-now/news-story/cede4ea279aa4ad491bcc40aa7a2866d

Nagle, C & Vitez, K  (2020). Fixing the broken textbook market (2nd ed.). U.S. PIRG Education Fund. https://studentpirgs.org/2020/06/08)

UNESCO (2020). OER Dynamic Coalition. https://www.unesco.org/en/open-educational-resources/oer-dynamic-coalition?hub=785

UNESCO (2023, April 20) , UNESCO’s mandate in OER. https://www.unesco.org/en/open-educational-resources/mandate?hub=785

Zomer, Saffron (2007). “Exposing the Textbook Industry“. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100314064804/http://www.studentpirgs.org/textbooks/reports/exposing-the-textbook-industry