A group of educators will meet at Foothill College this week to begin studying how to encourage widespread adoption of free online textbooks.
Funded by a $530,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources hopes to ease the burden on students who routinely pay $150 for clunky, hard-bound books, according to Judy Baker, dean of Foothill Global Access, an online-learning program.
The majority of grant money will go to the consortium's new Open Textbook Project, a collaboration with other schools and educational groups already using Web-based books to study the long-term feasibility of switching to online books, she said.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today (May 7, 2009) launched an initiative to make California the first state in the nation to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students. The Governor directed his Secretary of Education Glen Thomas to ensure these resources are available for use in high school math and science classes by fall 2009, a critical first step in helping ensure digital textbooks are widely available to all California students.
Subject:
Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology
Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice was written and submitted to the Open Textbook Challenge by Dr. Olivier Bonaventure of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. He also serves as the Education Director of ACM SIGCOMM. Computer Networking has already been used by several universities around the world, including UCL.
Elementary Linear Algebra was written and submitted to the Open Textbook Challenge by Dr. Kenneth Kuttler of Brigham Young University. Dr. Kuttler wrote this textbook for use by his students at BYU. According to the introduction of Elementary Linear Algebra, “this is intended to be a first course in linear algebra for students who are sophomores or juniors who have had a course in one variable calculus and a reasonable background in college algebra.” A solutions manual for the textbook is included.
Creative Commons interviews ISKME Founder and OER Commons Creator Lisa Petrides. The interview covers open educational resources and current policy issues.
Linear Algebra, Theory and Applications was written and submitted by Dr. Kenneth Kuttler of Brigham Young University. Dr. Kuttler wrote this textbook for use by his students at BYU. According to the preface of the text: “This is a book on linear algebra and matrix theory. While it is self-contained, it will work best for those who have already had some exposure to linear algebra. It is also assumed that the reader has had calculus. Some optional topics require more analysis than this, however.” A solutions manual to the textbook is included.
Mathematical Analysis, Volume I was written by Dr. Elias Zakon of the University of Windsor and submitted to the Open Textbook Challenge by Dr. Bradley Lucier of Purdue University. According to the preface, "One of [the] main objectives is updating the undergraduate analysis as a rigorous postcalculus course... [without losing] contacts with classical texts still widely in use."
OER Commons would like to welcome you to the ever-expanding community of educators and life-long learners who are using and creating content in the open education movement. The objective of this hands-on course is to help you quickly start using and creating open educational resources (OER).
These modules can be completed in any order; work on the ones most relevant to your needs. Consider working through “Why OER?” first: it provides the framework you’ll need for the other modules.
Subject:
Arts, Business, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
This wiki is a collaborative workspace for participants in the Community College Open Textbook (CCOT) Project to iteratively develop and refine a set of criteria for reviewing and evaluating open textbooks. Here is a set of review criteria that we have previously used, which can serve as a starting point. Dig in, offer your thoughts, mix, mash, modify and adapt!
Subject:
Arts, Business, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
In December 2007, the founder of South Africa's Free High School Science Texts (FHSST) project, Mark Horner, visited ISMKE's offices to talk about the origins of his project, and what is involved with creating open educational resource projects.
You can view the entire transcript here, or focus on the specific questions and responses below, offered as text and videos:
Subject:
Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
West Virginia University at Parkersburg will be rolling out electronic, open-source textbooks this fall They will be written and developed by college instructors and available for the Kindle and other e-readers.
Subject:
Business, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
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