OER 2.0 At Work
David Harris
Editor in Chief
OER 2.0 At Work

Today’s Agenda
• OER Background and Licensing
• OER and Academic Freedom
• OpenStax College Overview
• Lessons Learned: 18 Month In
• FAQs

Historical
learning
materials.
MaWa
(CC-­‐BY-­‐NC-­‐SA
bit.ly/HpbDKU)

knowledge forms a network
networks enable new means to produce
and exploit knowledge

computer hardware
and software
textbooks
learning music
newspapers

OER Enhances Academic Freedom
• OER provides faculty with more choices for their courses
• OER allows for permission free editing and adaptation
• OER prevents faculty from being locked into a particular
platform or system
At the course level:
In the market place:
• OER should not be legislated or mandated
• OER needs to stand on it’s own vis a vis publisher
material

X Limits access
Digital Rights Management:
Open Licenses:
ü Unlimited Access (never expires)
ü Unlimited printing/use across devices
ü Encourages sharing on informal learning networks
Digital Rights Management

Ease of Use
Make it easy to find the materials.
Free is not enough
Establish development models to ensure quality
Essential Learning Resources
Partner with groups that can enhance content
http://www.openstaxcollege.org
Scope and Sequence
Develop resources to support existing curricula
Meeting the OER Challenge

Goals of OpenStax College
• Increase access to high quality open educational content
• Provide students financial relief
• Increase freedom and flexibility for faculty
“Student indebtedness exceeds $1 trillion”
–New York Times, 5/12/13
“Seven in ten college students said they had not
purchased a textbook at least once because they had
found the price too high.”
–Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/23/11

Foundation Support for OER 2.0

Macro-
eco-
nomics
Principles of
Eco-
nomics
Principles of
Micro-
eco-
nomics
Principles of
Psych-
ology
Introductory
Stat-
istics Chem-
istry
Pre-
calc-
ulus Hist-
ory
U.
S.
A Growing Library

Mission Driving Growth
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Adop&ons

Mission Driving Growth
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
Students
Enrolled
In
Courses
Using
OpenStax
College
Books

As of April 15, 2014:
• Derivatives: 86
• Adoptions: 574
• Students: 91,403
• Textbook Downloads: 493,019
• Unique Web Visitors: 3,730,731
Mission Driving Growth

$9 MILLION
SAVED!

Mission Driving Growth
Nothing is stronger than your
colleague saying, “Give this book
a shot. It changed my students’
lives.”

Lessons: 18 Months In

Lessons: 18 Months In
• Faculty tend to adopt then adapt
• 86 adapted versions to date
• Growth in the custom MyStax
Landing Pages

Lessons: 18 Months In
“Adapted versions make OpenStax
College texts even more relevant for
students.”

Lessons: 18 Months In
“OpenStax College enhances
academic freedom while academic
freedom drives OpenStax usage .”

In
what
ways,
if
any,
has
using
OpenStax
College
textbooks
impacted
on
your
own
teaching
prac&ce?
• “I
have
become
more
intenQonal
about
tailoring
my
course
to
my
students,
having
been
at
least
somewhat
released
from
the
constraints
imposed
by
the
commercial
publishing
industry”
“I
have
always
believed
in
using
a
lot
of
addiQonal
resources.
OpenStax
works
nicely
in
this
regard.
The
supplementals
are
not
fancy
but
we
have
made
addiQonal
testbanks
and
other
free
resources
available
to
all
our
faculty
in
a
collecQve
approach
to
compile
very
nice
addiQonal
resources.”
“I
am
able
to
think
a
li[le
more
creaQvely
of
what
new
experiences
I
can
design
for
my
students
using
resources
in
the
text
or
other
online
resources.
I
think
the
text
is
a
great
foundaQon,
but
I
don’t
feel
constrained
to
shy
away
from
employing
other
teaching
tools
for
fear
they
might
ask:
“Well,
if
you
were
going
to
have
us
watch
this
video
or
do
this
online
tutorial
–
why
did
we
have
to
pay
$250
for
the
textbook?”
“I
create
more
collecQons
of
images
to
build
presentaQon,
rather
than
going
straight
from
the
book.”

As
a
result
of
using
OpenStax
College
textbooks…
• 96.1%
of
educators
who
use
OSC
textbooks
are
more
likely
to
recommend
OpenStax
College
textbooks
to
fellow
educators/teachers
(n=73)
• 80.0%
of
respondents
who
use
OSC
textbooks
are
more
likely
to
discuss
using
OpenStax
College
textbooks
with
their
insQtuQon’s
administrators
(n=60)
• Nearly
80%
of
respondents
who
use
OSC
textbooks
are
more
likely
to
use
OER
for
teaching
(79.5%,
n=58)

A Growing Ecosystem

1. What’s the catch or obligation?
2. “I don’t like X or you don’t have y”
3. May I adapt and distribute without permission?
4. Do you have comp copies?
5. Can my bookstore order physical copies?
FAQs

“My students
shouldn’t have
to choose between
buying textbooks
and buying
groceries.”
Binnur Ercem
Professor, Sociology
Middlesex Community College
Access. The future of education.
OpenStaxCollege.org
Free, high-quality textbooks.
No compromises.
OpenStax College is the only publisher that
provides free professionally written and
peer-reviewed textbooks. So you don’t have
to compromise on quality to make college
more affordable for your students.
Our current texts include Sociology and (#
TBD) other core college courses, with more
available all the time. And they’re easily
customized to include up-to-the-minute
information. Students can download or print
texts, plus access interactive functionality like
animated infographics, homework problems,
and more. Adopt, adapt, and recommend our
texts at OpenStaxCollege.org.

Are You a Textbook Hero?
• Be involved in a movement
• We want 1000 adoptions by
2015 – we need your help!