Brief Overview of Selected Open Textbook Projects: OpenStax College, BCCampus Open Textbooks, California State University's MERLOT, Florida Virtual Campus The Orange Grove, University of Minnesota Open Textbook Library

1. Una Daly
California State University
March 31, 2014
Brief Survey of
Selected Open Textbook
Projects
Except where otherwise noted, these materials are licensed
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY)

2. Agenda
• Definition of OER
• Open License
• Discover Open Textbooks
• OpenStaxCollege
• Open Textbook Library
• Open BCcampus
• TheOrangeGrove
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3. Open Educational Resources
(OER)
U.S. Dept. of Education
– Teaching, learning, and research
resources that reside in the public
domain or have been released under an
intellectual property license that
permits their free use or repurposing by
others.
3
cc-by donkyhotey/flickr
adapted from Judy Baker cc-by license

4. What is an Open License?
• Free: Free to access online, free to print
• Open: Shared, usable, re-usable.
• Creative Commons: less restrictions than standard
copyright but author retains full rights.

5. Creative Commons Licenses
Simple, standardized way to grant copyright
permissions
Adapted from Ronda Neugebauer Slidesshare
Permission: Attribute Commercial? Share alike?
http://creativecommons.org

6. OER Examples
Includes –
• Course materials
• Lesson Plans
• Modules or lessons
• OpenCourseWare (OCW)
• Open textbooks
• Videos
• Images
• Tests
• Software
• Any other tools, materials, or techniques used
to support ready access to knowledge
6adapted from Judy Baker’s ELI 2011 OER Workshop cc-by license

7. Characteristics of OER
• Digital
– Easily modified
– Free distribution
• Open License
– Reuse, Revise, Remix,
Redistribute
• Expands Access
– Low cost, translations, accessible.
Labeled for reuse by MrKCoolsPhotostream

8. Discover OER
Repositories & Listing Sites
How to Adopt an Open Textbook

9. OpenStax College
Spring 2012 Spring 2012 Spring 2013 Spring 2013 Spring 2013 Spring 2014
Adapted from David Harrison CCCOER webinar cc-by
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Ultimate Goal – High-quality books
for top 20+ courses.

10. Page |
10
open.bccampus.ca
Small curated collection of locally peer reviewed materials
for top 40 courses. Web, ePub, and PDF formats.

11. Page |
Project Phases
11
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Phase One: Launch (March -August 2013)
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Phase Three: Create (January 2014-Sept 2014)
2
Phase Two: Adapt (Sept 2013-Sept 2014)
• Identify top 40 subjects
• Environmental scan of 40 open textbooks
• Faculty peer reviews
• Highlight Early Adopters
• More textbooks (13 new) – suggest a textbook for
areas we have not previously found one.
• More reviews
• More outreach: Libraries & Bookstores
• Technology (PoD, PressBooks, Connexions)
• Produce as few textbooks as possible from scratch
• Create 1 exemplar e-textbook

12. • Listing site of publisher quality open textbooks
• Focus on faculty reviews and adoptions

13. Page |
Orange Grove Text Plus
Florida State Repository
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• Guided by legislative mandates
• Partnership with Florida University Press

14. Page |
Florida Virtual Campus
2014-16
• BlendKit 2014
– University of Central Florida and EDUCAUSE
design and deliver blended learning MOOC
• Taskforce on Postsecondary Online Education
identified key initiatives by the chancellors:
– Enhance & Expand online learning repository
– Create an effective practices repository
• Update student and faculty survey on digital
textbooks (fall 2014)
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15. 15
www.merlotx.org
• Open textbook list by category (2200+)
• Peer and Accessibility reviews
• Registered MERLOT users may create personal
collections and add evaluations

16. Questions, Comments
Thank you.
Contact Info:
Una Daly, udaly@calstate.edu

17. Share
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/4424154829/in/photostream/
IMG_4591 http://www.flickr.com/photos/bionicteaching/4700979984/ cc-by-sa
La belle tzigane http://www.flickr.com/photos/joyoflife/21063837 cc-by-sa
Asian Library Interior 5 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ubclibrary/453351638/ cc-by-nc-sa
Petru http://www.flickr.com/photos/joyoflife/23724427/ cc-by-nc-sa
Opensourceways http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/4371000710/ cc-by-sa
Photo credits:
17
Free the textbook: Creative Commons licensed by
opensourceway, https://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/