Open Textbook Publishing and Adoption: OpenStax College, Open SUNY, Open Academics
Channel: Open Education Global
Date: 2014-02-10

Recent research conducted by the OER Research Hub indicates that nearly 60% of community college faculty choose OER and open textbooks based on the reputation of the institution  or recommendations from trusted colleagues. Join us on Wed, February 5, at 11:00 am (PT), 2:00 pm (ET) to hear about three high-quality open textbook publishing initiatives, one through the State University of New York (SUNY), another through OpenStax College at Rice University, and finally one at the University of Minnesota.  Our featured speakers will share their experiences with publishing open textbooks for use by both faculty and students and share their open textbook adoption strategies.

SLIDES AVAILABLE NOW

Cyril Oberlander, Director of Library Services at SUNY Geneseo heads up the SUNY Open Textbook initiative which publishes high-quality, cost-effective course resources by engaging faculty as authors and peer-reviewers, and libraries as a publishing service and infrastructure. They have released three open textbooks this last fall in their planned series of fifteen open textbooks in various disciplines.
David Harris, Editor-in-chief OpenStax College at Rice University's Connexions project.  OpenStax College is a nonprofit organization committed to improving student access to quality learning materials. Their free textbooks are developed and peer-reviewed by educators to ensure they are readable, accurate, and meet the scope and sequence requirements of college courses.  Their first six books released over the last two years are focused on general education courses and are gaining adoptions.
David Ernst, Chief Information Officer, College of Education and Human Development, at University of Minnesota. Dr. Ernst spent the last two years identifying barriers to the adoption of open textbooks and finding ways to help institutions and faculty overcome those barriers. He created the Open Textbook Library in April, 2012, as a single source for faculty to find open textbooks.

Posted by Una Daly, Director of Community College Outreach
unatdaly@ocwonconsortium.org