OpenStax announces 10 schools participating in this year’s Institutional Partner Program | Rice News | News and Media Relations | Rice University

“OpenStax, Rice University’s educational technology initiative, will see 10 colleges and universities join its Institutional Partner Program for the 2022-2023 school year. All of those institutions will receive support from OpenStax experts as they work to save students’ money by increasing the use of free, openly licensed textbooks on their campuses.  

The University of Notre Dame, Georgia State University, Collin College (Texas), Glendale Community College (California), Maricopa Community College (Arizona), Merced Community College (California), Mt. San Antonio College (California), the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at El Paso are the newest members of the program. They join the College of Southern Nevada, which is returning for a second year….”

Best-selling chemistry textbook is now free | News | Chemistry World

“The author of a popular organic chemistry textbook is making it freely available to students after learning about a loophole in his copyright agreement with the publisher.

John McMurry’s Organic Chemistry has been one of the best selling chemistry textbooks since it was first printed in 1984. Under his agreement with Cengage Learning, the book’s publisher, McMurry realised he could ask for the book’s copyright to be returned to him 30 years after it was first printed. Without copyright of the first edition, the publisher is unable to produce any more new editions, McMurry notes.

McMurry, an emeritus professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University, US, says the move was a tribute to his son who passed away from cystic fibrosis three years ago….”

OpenStax and collaborators receive $1.13 million to develop free textbooks | Rice News | News and Media Relations | Rice University

“OpenStax and its 12 collaborators have received U.S. Department of Education funding to develop three new free, openly licensed textbooks for in-demand computer science courses. The books will be accompanied by comprehensive support, including educational technology and instructor training.

The textbooks, serving a sector of higher education that includes 2.5 million students, are expected to save students more than $110 million over five years….”

OpenStax founder Baraniuk wins ‘Nobel Prize of education’

“Richard Baraniuk, the C. Sidney Burrus Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and founding director of OpenStax, Rice University’s educational technology initiative, has received the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education.

Known informally as the “Nobel Prize of education,” the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Family Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education bestows the annual award on “outstanding individuals whose accomplishments are making a difference in the lives of students.”

Baraniuk is among the founders of the open education movement promoting the use of free and open-source-licensed educational resources. OpenStax (formerly Connexions) is a nonprofit publishing project he founded in 1999 to bring textbooks and other learning materials into the digital age.

 

During the last academic year, free and open-source texts from OpenStax were used by 4.5 million students and 16,000 faculty at roughly 62% of U.S. colleges and universities. Since 2012, 14 million students have saved an estimated $1.2 billion. This academic year, the number of students benefiting from OpenStax publications already exceeds 5 million….”

FSU Libraries chosen to participate in OpenStax’s Institutional Partner Program – Florida State University News

“Florida State University Libraries will expand its efforts to increase awareness for the textbook affordability movement and promote the adoption of open educational resources (OER) through a new partnership with OpenStax.

FSU is one of 12 universities that’s been chosen to participate in the 2021-2022 OpenStax Institutional Partner Program. As a participant in the network’s first-year program, FSU Libraries will work actively to build and execute a strategy that will encourage greater use of free, flexible textbooks among its faculty and students….”

Rice’s OpenStax to provide 13 educational technology companies with training to develop equitable courseware platforms

“OpenStax, Rice University’s educational technology initiative, announced today that 13 companies have been selected to participate in the organization’s new equity in courseware training program. The training will help the participating companies learn about and develop educational technology platforms that provide better outcomes for all students, especially those from historically marginalized and underserved communities….”

OpenStax Institutional Partner Program expands for next academic year

“OpenStax, Rice University’s educational technology initiative, will welcome a dozen new colleges and universities serving diverse students across the United States to its Institutional Partner Program,

This OpenStax program has helped over 70 colleges and universities expand the use of open educational resources on their campuses, saving their students money and putting more flexible course materials into the hands of educators and learners….”

OpenStax to vastly expand open education library with support from national foundations

“OpenStax, Rice’s educational technology initiative, is vastly expanding its library of free textbooks, working toward a goal of ensuring that no student ever has to worry about textbook costs again. This work is possible as a result of new grants totaling $12.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation and the Stand Together community….”

OpenStax textbook revisions, updates, and improvements – OpenStax

“In the years since OpenStax published its first textbook, our offerings have matured and our platforms have evolved. We’ve done our best to listen to our adopters and work with our authors to develop a balanced updating, improvement, and revision strategy.

OpenStax revises books, creating formal new editions, only when it is pedagogically necessary to do so. The process is extensive and requires significant resources. Between new editions, we make updates and improvements based on errata submissions, suggestions from adopters, ideas from contributors, and specific reviews for diversity and representation. Below I’ll outline the approach to each.

First, a brief overview of our development process: OpenStax textbooks are developed and peer-reviewed by educators to ensure they align to the coverage and sequence of their respective courses, keeping in mind common learning outcomes and points of emphasis from academic communities and discipline organizations. Our development process includes thorough editing, careful review, and detailed quality assurance measures. Then, after a book is published, we begin the process of maintaining and improving it.

And second, as discussed below, the online view of the book — as opposed to the PDF or other formats — is the one we recommend because it is always the most up-to-date, the most accessible, and includes features such as notetaking and highlighting. Also, the OpenStax course cartridges, available for several learning management systems, link directly to the online and most updated version….”

OpenStax – SPARC

“OpenStax began just over two decades ago as a repository of open educational resources (OER) called Connexions where faculty around the world could publish, share, and remix educational materials. In 2012, it rebranded and started publishing its own line of free, peer-reviewed textbooks as a nonprofit educational initiative.

Since then, 9 million students have used OpenStax books saving them nearly one billion dollars. Its books have been adopted in 6,900 schools and used in more than 100 countries. This spring, an estimated 3.2 million students and 24,000 faculty are using use the books – with the volume increasing by 50 to 100 percent every year.

For its work as a leader in the open education space, driving awareness, embracing diverse voices and helping make college more affordable, SPARC has recognized OpenStax with its February 2020 Innovator Award….”

How a University Took on the Textbook Industry | EdSurge News

“This kind of free online textbook was novel in 1999 when Rice professor Richard Baraniuk started gathering them online for students and faculty around the world to use. As demand for low-cost, high-quality materials increased during the Great Recession, the nonprofit project shifted from curation to creation, publishing its first five free textbooks in 2012.

Today, OpenStax—part tech startup, part publishing house, part cognitive science research lab—has a library of three dozen titles. By the nonprofit’s estimates, more than half of U.S. colleges use at least one. And some credit it for helping kick-start a trend—now known as open educational resources, or OER—that has sent shockwaves through the traditional publishing industry….”