An open textbook is a textbook licensed under an open license, and made available online to be freely used by students, teachers and members of the public. Many open textbooks are distributed in either print, e-book, or audio formats that may be downloaded or purchased at little or no cost. [1]
Part of the broader open educational resources movement, [2] [3] open textbooks increasingly are seen as a solution to challenges with traditionally published textbooks, such as access and affordability concerns. [4] Open textbooks were identified in the New Media Consortium's 2010 Horizon Report as a component of the rapidly progressing adoption of open content in higher education. [5] Open books are typically distributed by open-licensed publishers or by writers themselves. A portion of the expense of college textbooks is offset by the easy access to material provided by open source textbooks. While certain open source textbooks can be used for free, others have a nominal usage fee. A digital copy of a printed book that can be read on computers, tablets, and smartphones is called an electronic book, or ebook for short.
The defining difference between open textbooks and traditional textbooks is that the copyright permissions on open textbooks allow the public to freely use, adapt and distribute the material. Open textbooks either reside in the public domain or are released under an open license that grants usage rights to the public so long as the author is attributed. [6]
The copyright permissions on open textbooks extend to all members of the public and cannot be rescinded. [7] These permissions include the right to do the following:
Some open licenses limit these rights to non-commercial use or require that adapted versions be licensed the same as the original.
Some examples of open licenses are:
Waivers of copyright that place materials in the public domain include:
Open textbooks increasingly are seen as an affordable alternative to traditional textbooks in both K-12 and higher education. [10] In both cases, open textbooks offer both dramatic up-front savings and the potential to drive down traditional textbook prices through competition. [11]
In the United States, textbook costs increased 88% from July 2006 to July 2016. [12] For this reason, in 2019, students were recommended to budget at least $1,230 per year for textbooks. [13] Overall, open textbooks have been found by the Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) to offer 80% or more savings to higher education students over traditional textbooks. [14] [15] [16]
In 2010, research commissioned by the Florida state legislature pointed to the savings potential open textbooks could secure for students. [17] [18] Legislative reports in Texas [19] and North Dakota [20] also pointed to the potential of open textbook programs to secure cost savings. State-backed initiatives began in Washington, [21] Ohio, [22] California, [23] and Texas. [24] In Canada, the province of British Columbia became the first jurisdiction to have a similar open textbook program. [25] In subsequent years, various state, provincial, national, and institutional initiatives emerged to support creation and use of open textbooks. [26] [27]
Open Oregon, a state-funded initiative active since 2015, indicated in an annual report that open textbooks can not only secure significant savings for students, these savings compound over time as materials are reused. For instance, Open Oregon initially offered $52,098 in funding for open textbooks in 2015. By 2019, the program estimated that students in Oregon higher education had secured $477,409.24 in savings. [28] [29]
Organizations supporting creation of open textbooks cite other reasons for doing so that go beyond cost savings. In 2010, the Florida state legislature pointed to "compelling academic reasons" for using open textbooks that included: "improved quality, flexibility and access to resources, interactive and active learning experiences, currency of textbook information, broader professional collaboration, and the use of teaching and learning technology to enhance educational experiences" (OATTF, p. i). [30]
Based on survey data gathered in September 2020, Student PIRGs cited additional reasons for supporting accessible open textbooks in light of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. They noted that, while commercial textbook prices had not continued to surge in the past year, students experiencing economic uncertainty, food shortages, and limited access to Internet were more likely to forgo or lose access to course materials. This report highlighted the economic inequalities that are further exacerbated by an educational market characterized by cost inflation and demanding technological requirements. [31]
A meta-analysis of 22 studies of 100,012 students found that there were no differences between open and commercial textbooks for learning performance. [32] Students enrolled in courses with open textbooks had a lower withdrawal rate than students enrolled in courses in commercial textbooks. [32] Systematic reviews of open educational resources, including open textbooks, concluded that faculty and student perceptions of the quality of open textbooks was comparable to that of commercial textbooks. [33] [34]
Open textbooks and other open educational resources may be found on several platforms, typically organized by universities and non-profit organizations, such as MERLOT. [35] The University of Minnesota Open Textbook library is coordinated through the Center for Open Education and is a repository of downloadable open textbooks. OpenStax is both a platform for locating open textbooks and an open textbook creator. Peer review is a common practice across platforms. [35]
Research at Brigham Young University has produced a web-based cost comparison calculator for traditional and open K-12 textbooks. To use the calculator the inputs commercial textbook cost, planned replacement frequency, and number of annual textbook user count are required. A section is provided to input time requirements for adaptation to local needs, annual updating hours, labor rate, and an approximation of pages. The summary section applies an industry standard cost for print-on-demand of the adapted open textbook to provide a cost per student per year for both textbook options. A summed cost differential over the planned period of use is also calculated. [36]
Several organizations, publishers, and initiatives have taken a lead in furthering open textbook publishing, particularly in North America.
In early 2011, Connexions announced a series of two grants that would allow the platform to produce a total of 20 open textbooks ultimately distributed as the OpenStax collection. Initially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Michelson 20MM Foundation, and the Maxfield Foundation, this project expanded over an 18-month time frame to include open textbooks for Anatomy & Physiology, Sociology, Biology, Biology for non-majors, and Physics. [37] [38] [39] The second phase of the OpenStax project would produce an additional 15 titles. The most expensive part of this process was image rights clearing with cleared images becoming available for reuse in even more titles. [40] As of June 2021, OpenStax indicates that their textbooks are in use in 60% of U.S. colleges and universities and 100 countries worldwide. [41]
In February 2012, the Saylor Foundation sponsored an "Open Textbook Challenge", offering a $20,000 reward for newly written open textbooks or existing textbooks released under a CC BY license. [42]
After its launch in 2012, the BC Open Textbook Pilot went on to win many accolades for its commitment to providing open textbooks to students in British Columbia, Canada. BCcampus was tasked with coordinating the program, whose goal was to "make higher education more accessible by reducing student cost through the use of openly licensed textbooks." [43] BCcampus' catalog of open textbooks is widely regarded as a leading source of information about existing OER in Canada. [44] The organization has taken the lead in educating the OER community about textbook accessibility via its Accessibility Toolkit. [45] In 2015 and 2016, BCcampus won Creative Innovation and Open Education Excellence awards from the Open Education Consortium. [46] In 2018, it won a SPARC Innovator Award. [47]
In 2012, David Ernst, a faculty member in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota, founded Open Textbook Library (OTL) to help other faculty members locate and adopt open textbooks. Ernst launched traveling workshops that presented the concept of OER to faculty members and invited them to review textbooks in OTL using a pre-set rubric. [48] In 2014, Ernst created Open Textbook Network to provide peer support to institutions looking to expand their open education initiatives. Later renamed Open Education Network, this organization had grown by June 2021 to comprise 140 members and 1,147 campuses across North America and select locations worldwide. [49] Its initiatives came to include local workshops, a publishing cooperative, a certificate in OER Librarianship, and an annual Summer Summit. Meanwhile, Open Textbook Library had grown to 883 textbooks by June 2021. [50]
In 2013, the Maricopa County Community College District launched the Maricopa Millions Study. The goal of this project was to "radically decrease student costs by offering LOW COST or NO COST options for course materials." The project aimed to save students $5 in five years.
In 2013, Tidewater Community College rolled out the first known degree program using exclusively zero-cost course materials. Tidewater's Associate of Science in Business Administration was known as a "Z-Degree" program, and in 2017 the college reported that the degree had garnered students $1 million in savings to date. [51] [52]
Based in Canada, the Rebus Foundation emerged in the 2010s to provide support for authors seeking to publish open textbooks. The foundation provides professional development, facilitates workshops, and encourages authors to connect over shared OER projects. [53]
Also emerging in the 2010s, Pressbooks set out to provide "open-source, book production ... built around the WordPress platform." [54] Since the platform's introduction, many institutions have built open textbook publishing efforts around Pressbooks. Some of the results may be viewed on the Pressbooks Directory. [55] As of June 2021, more than 2,500 books had been published to the directory.
Because authors do not make money from the sale of open textbooks, many organizations have tried to use prizes or grants as financial incentives for writing open textbooks or releasing existing textbooks under open licenses. [56] [57] [58] Examples of grants and awards follow.
In November 2010, Anthony Brandt was awarded an "Access to Artistic Excellence" grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for his innovative music appreciation course in Connexions. [59] "Sound Reasoning" [60] "takes a new approach [to teaching music appreciation]: It presents style-transcendent principles, illustrated by side-by-side examples from both traditional and contemporary music. The goal is to empower listeners to be able to listen attentively and think intelligently about any kind of music, no matter its style. Everything is listening based; no ability to read music is required." The module being completed with grant funds is entitled "Hearing Harmony". Brandt cites choosing the Connexions open content publishing platform because "it was an opportunity to present an innovative approach in an innovative format, with the musical examples interpolated directly into the text."
In December 2010, open textbook publisher Flat World Knowledge was recognized by the American Library Association's Business Reference and Services Section (ALA BRASS) [61] by being named to the association's list of "Outstanding Business Reference Sources: The 2010 Selection of Recent Titles". The categories of business and economics open textbooks from Flat World Knowledge's catalog were selected for this award and referenced as "an innovative new vehicle for affordable (or free) online access to premier instructional resources in business and economics." [62] Specific criteria used by the American Library Association BRASS when evaluating titles for selection were:
A resource compiled specifically to supply information on a certain subject or group of subjects in a form that will facilitate its ease of use. The works are examined for authority and reputation of the publisher, author, or editor; accuracy; appropriate bibliography; organization, comprehensiveness, and value of the content; currency and unique addition to the field; ease of use for intended purpose; quality and accuracy of indexing; and quality and usefulness of graphics and illustrations. Each year more electronic reference titles are published, and additional criteria by which these resources are evaluated include search features, stability of content, graphic design quality, and accuracy of links. Works selected are intended to be suitable for medium to large academic and public libraries.
The Text and Academic Author's Association awarded a 2011 Textbook Excellence Award ("Texty") [63] to the first open textbook to ever win such recognition in that year. A maximum of eight academic titles could earn this award each year. The title "Organizational Behavior" [64] by Talya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan earned one of seven 2011 Textbook Excellence Awards granted. Bauer & Erdogan's "Organizational Behavior" open textbook was published by Flat World Knowledge.
Other significant honors can be found via Open Education Global—a community that presents annual awards for innovation and leadership in open education. [65]
Open textbooks are flexible in ways that traditional textbooks are not, [66] which gives instructors more freedom to use them in the way that best meets their instructional needs. [67] [68]
One common frustration with traditional textbooks is the frequency of new editions, which force the instructor to modify the curriculum to the new book. Any open textbook can be used indefinitely, so instructors need only change editions when they think it is necessary.
Many open textbooks are licensed to allow modification. This means that instructors can add, remove or alter the content to better fit a course's needs. Furthermore, the cost of textbooks can in some cases contribute to the quality of instruction when students are not able to purchase required materials. A Florida governmental panel found after substantial consultation with educators, students, and administrators that "there are compelling academic reasons to use open access textbooks such as: improved quality, flexibility and access to resources, interactive and active learning experiences, currency of textbook information, broader professional collaboration, and the use of teaching and learning technology to enhance educational experiences." [69] (OATTF, p. i)
Author compensation for open textbooks works differently than traditional textbook publishing. By definition, the author of an open textbook grants the public the right to use the textbook for free, so charging for access is no longer possible. However, numerous models for supporting authors are developing. For example, a startup open textbook publisher called Flat World Knowledge pays its authors royalties on the sale of print copies and study aids. [70] Other proposed models include grants, institutional support and advertising. [71]
Legislation "to authorize grants for the creation, update, or adaption of open textbooks" and assure those developed would be made available under favorable licenses was introduced into the 111th United States Congress, both in the Senate [72] [73] [74] and the House of Representatives. [75] Findings specific to open textbooks detailed in the bill text are:
This legislation did not reach the floor of either chamber for debate or vote prior to the conclusion of the 111th Congress.
After this initial foray into legislation supporting OER in higher education, the U.S. Congress funded an Open Textbook Pilot Program in 2018. As of 2021, funding had been renewed every year. In 2021, $7 million was awarded to nine projects nationwide. [76] [77]
The current higher education textbook industry has voiced stiff opposition to creation and adoption of open textbooks. [78] The industry is represented by Bruce Hildebrand, a former senior vice president from the controversial firm Hill & Knowlton International Public Relations, who is now acting as executive director for higher education for the Association of American Publishers. [79]
As institutions moved toward digital access during the COVID-19 pandemic, accessibility of course materials became a mounting concern. Specifically, accessibility for people with disabilities has been a challenge across resources including open textbooks. Web accessibility is defined by W3C as adherence to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Studies have increasingly shown that open textbooks fail multiple criteria outlined in WCAG. [80] [81] [82] [83] [84] [85] [86] These studies have caused the open education community to produce guides for improving the accessibility of open textbooks and OER. [45] [87]
A number of projects and initiatives around the world seek to develop, support and promote open textbooks. Two very notable advocates and supporters of open textbook and related open education projects include the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation [88] and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. [89]
The Australian Open Textbook Project [90] is investigating the current and potential role of open textbooks in Australian higher education. [90] The project has a particular focus on social justice [91] and is funded by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE). [92]
BCcampus [93] supports online college and university education in British Columbia (BC), Canada. In 2012 BCcampus was awarded the first in a series of provincial funds from the BC Ministry of Advanced Education to support the use and development of open textbooks in British Columbia, including the creation of open textbooks in popular subjects. [94] BCcampus provides a library of curated open textbooks [95] and extensive support for open textbook development. [96]
The DOT4D project [97] is based at The University of Cape Town and funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC). [98] The project focuses on supporting the use of open textbook use in South African higher education. [99] DOT4D has a particular focus on social justice. [100]
eCampus Ontario [101] is a Canadian non-governmental organisation (NGO). It supports the use of OER and partners with higher education institutions to support the development of open textbooks. [102] eCampus Ontario also provide a curated collection of OER, including open textbooks. [103]
OpenStax (formerly Connexions and OpenStax College) was founded in 2011 and is based at Rice University. As at June 2021 OpenStax provided 61 openly licensed, curriculum aligned textbooks for universities, colleges and high schools, largely available in US English but with some textbooks available in Polish. [104] OpenStax has charitable status and is funded from a variety of sources, including foundation funding. [105] During 2019 it was reported that OpenStax materials were being used by half of all higher education institutions in the United States. [106]
The Open Education Network [107] (formerly the Open Textbook Network) is based at The University of Minnesota. A membership organisation, The Open Education Network supports the use of OER in Higher Education. [108] The associated Open Textbook Library had curated 886 open textbooks for reuse as at June 2021. [109]
The KOED [110] advocates for the use of OER in Poland. [111] The work of KOED informed the Polish Government investment in open textbooks for use in primary and secondary education during 2012 and 2013. [112] A range of open textbooks have been developed and made available. [113] [114]
Based in South Africa, Siyavula [115] was founded in 2007 [116] and offers high school maths and science open textbooks. Initially funded through a Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship, the South African government provided 2.5 million print copies of Siyavula textbooks to South African high school students during 2012. [117]
The Hewlett Foundation funded UK Open Textbooks project [118] (2017–2018) was a collaborative pilot project investigating the applicability of two methods of open textbook adoption to the UK context.
Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" describes publicly accessible materials and resources for any user to use, re-mix, improve, and redistribute under some licenses. These are designed to reduce accessibility barriers by implementing best practices in teaching and to be adapted for local unique contexts.
OpenStax CNX, formerly called Connexions, is a global repository of educational content provided by volunteers. The open source platform is provided and maintained by OpenStax, which is based at Rice University. The collection is available free of charge, can be remixed and edited, and is available for download in various digital formats.
An open-source curriculum (OSC) is an online instructional resource that can be freely used, distributed and modified. OSC is based on the open-source practice of creating products or software that opens up access to source materials or codes. Applied to education, this process invites feedback and participation from developers, educators, government officials, students and parents and empowers them to exchange ideas, improve best practices and create world-class curricula. These "development" communities can form ad-hoc, within the same subject area or around a common student need, and allow for a variety of editing and workflow structures.
The Global Text Project (GTP) is a not for profit organization dedicated to the creation, translation, and distribution of free open content textbooks over the Internet. It is an open educational resources project focusing on reaching university students mainly in developing countries, where textbooks are often expensive and not affordable. Textbooks are necessary and crucial for higher education, but they are becoming increasingly expensive, even in the United States. Between 1998 and 2014 textbook prices increased by 161 percent. And since 1977, textbook prices in the country have risen 1,041 percent, more than triple the overall rate of U.S. inflation. Two major reasons that could be affecting textbook prices are the constant publication of new editions, and extra material bundled into the textbooks.
Open education is an educational movement founded on openness, with connections to other educational movements such as critical pedagogy, and with an educational stance which favours widening participation and inclusiveness in society. Open education broadens access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems and is typically offered through online and distance education. The qualifier "open" refers to the elimination of barriers that can preclude both opportunities and recognition for participation in institution-based learning. One aspect of openness or "opening up" education is the development and adoption of open educational resources in support of open educational practices.
Open.Michigan is a collection of open initiatives and projects at the University of Michigan (U-M). Open.Michigan supports the open access and use of U-M resources for teaching, learning, and research. Open.Michigan promotes open content licensing and supports the reuse, redistribution, and remixing of educational materials for use by others worldwide. Some of the key efforts underway under the Open.Michigan umbrella include U-M's Open Educational Resources publishing activities, development of software tools that support creating open content, and various open content repositories.
Richard G. Baraniuk is the C. Sidney Burrus Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University and the Founder and Director of the open education initiative OpenStax.
Lyryx Learning (Lyryx) is an educational software company offering open educational resources (OERs) paired with online homework & exams for undergraduate introductory courses in Mathematics & Statistics and Business & Economics.
FlexBook is a textbook authoring platform developed by the CK-12 Foundation launched in 2008, focused on textbooks for the K-12 market. Derived from the words "flexibility" and "textbook," a FlexBook allows users to produce and customize content by re-purposing educational content using different modules. FlexBooks can be designed to suit a learner's learning style, region, language, or level of skill, while adhering to the local education standards.
The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2002. Located in Half Moon Bay, California, its mission is to make learning and knowledge sharing participatory, equitable, and open.
Open educational practices (OEP) are part of the broader open education landscape, including the openness movement in general. It is a term with multiple layers and dimensions and is often used interchangeably with open pedagogy or open practices. OEP represent teaching and learning techniques that draw upon open and participatory technologies and high-quality open educational resources (OER) in order to facilitate collaborative and flexible learning. Because OEP emerged from the study of OER, there is a strong connection between the two concepts. OEP, for example, often, but not always, involve the application of OER to the teaching and learning process. Open educational practices aim to take the focus beyond building further access to OER and consider how in practice, such resources support education and promote quality and innovation in teaching and learning. The focus in OEP is on reproduction/understanding, connecting information, application, competence, and responsibility rather than the availability of good resources. OEP is a broad concept which can be characterised by a range of collaborative pedagogical practices that include the use, reuse, and creation of OER and that often employ social and participatory technologies for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation and sharing, empowerment of learners, and open sharing of teaching practices.
OER Commons is a freely accessible online library that allows teachers and others to search and discover open educational resources (OER) and other freely available instructional materials.
OpenStax is a nonprofit educational technology initiative based at Rice University. Since 2012, OpenStax has created peer-reviewed, openly-licensed textbooks, which are available in free digital formats and for a low cost in print. Most books are also available in Kindle versions on Amazon.com and in the iBooks Store. OpenStax's first textbook was College Physics, which was published online, in print, and in iBooks in 2012. OpenStax launched OpenStax Tutor Beta in June 2017, adaptive courseware based on cognitive science principles, machine learning, and OpenStax content. However, it was announced in October 2022 that Tutor was being discontinued.
Boundless was an American company, founded in 2011, which created free and low-cost textbooks and distributed them online. In April 2015, it was acquired by Valore. The combined company is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
This outline of open educational resources provides a way of navigating concepts and topics in relation to the open educational resources (OER) movement.
Open Course Library (OCL) is an effort by the State of Washington to identify and make available digitally, to community and technical college instructors and students across that state, free textbooks, interactive assignments, and videos. Instructional materials can be "a smorgasbord of teaching modules and exercises developed by other open-learning projects.. . Interactive-learning Web sites and even instructional videos on YouTube. . ." However, OCL is not an OER publishing project, although it did contribute to the development of some widely used resources. Goals include: lowering textbook costs for students, providing new resources for faculty to use in their courses; and fully engaging in the global OER or open educational resources discussion.
Open Educational Practices in Australia refers to the development, implementation and use of Open educational resources (OER), open access, open learning design, open policies, and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to open up education in Australia.
Open educational resources in Canada are the various initiatives related to open education, open educational resources (OER), open pedagogies (OEP), open educational practices (OEP), and open scholarship that are established nationally and provincially across Canadian K-12 and higher education sectors, and where Canadian based inititatives extend to international collaborations.
LibreTexts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit online educational resource project. The project provides open access to its content on its website, and the site is built on the Mindtouch platform. LibreTexts was started in 2008 by Professor Delmar Larsen at the University of California Davis and has since expanded to 400 texts in 154 courses, making it one of the largest and most visited online educational resources. LibreTexts currently has 13 library disciplines.
The Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) promotes the awareness of open educational policies, practices, and resources. CCCOER is part of Open Education Global. CCCOER describes itself as a community of practice for open education, providing various resources, support, and opportunities for collaboration for learning, planning, and implementing successful open educational programs at community colleges and technical colleges. This support includes webinars, online advocacy events and conferences, a community email list, community blog, workshops and presentations throughout North America, as well as generally raising awareness of open education and supporting the needs of students and faculty at colleges adopting open educational resources and full degree pathways.