This document summarizes the creation of eBooks from open educational resources (OER) created as part of the PARiS Project at the University of Nottingham. Five OER modules on sustainability were converted to eBooks in various formats, including iBooks, ePubs, and mobi files for Kindle. These eBooks were made available through multiple platforms like the Apple iBook Store, Smashwords, and on the university's OER site. Over a 5 month period, there was a 33% increase in access to the materials, with 77% of downloads being the original OER and 18.5% being the iBook format. The project found that converting OER to eBook formats can broaden access

1. Making OER available on multiple
platforms (U-Now, iBooks, eBooks)
Andy Beggan
Head of Learning Technology
Steve Stapleton
Joshua Baker
Open Nottingham
27th March 2013
OER13

2. Outline
• Background
• Creating eBooks
• Impact & conclusions
• Next Steps
OER13

3. Background: The PARiS Project

4. Sustainability OpenCourseWare
Created 10 x 10 credit
modules on sustainability from
different subject perspectives
5 new modules converted to eBooks
Modules released as Open Educational
Resources (OER) on the institutions OER
site ‘U-Now’
Taught modules available under the
Nottingham Advantage Award scheme

5. The project team included academic staff and learning
technologists. Most were working with OER for the first time.
Collaborative development

6. Reuse and reuse-ability
Existing third party OER was re-used wherever possible!
Over 200 third party open resources were included
across the 5 modules!

7. Example U-Now OER Versions

8. Example U-Now OER Versions

9. ‘Well it’s taken a lot of
work to do, but like to
use it, it was just, I
don’t know, it just
flowed.’
Student feedback on OERs

10. “I can’t ever imagine
buying a textbook digitally
for the benefit of a few
extra quizzes or a video or
two… [but another] found
them really useful but not
interactive enough, so it
depends on the discipline”
Roberta Wiafe, Sussex University
19th March 2013
Student views on eBooks
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/student-life/9933453/Academic-e-books-will-they-ever-take-off.html

11. Question…
Where open resources
are ‘born’ digital, are
eBooks seen as
attractive alternatives
to students and do they
broaden access?

12. Created five eBooks from the OER materials and released
them as free downloads.
We used CC licenced images to ensure strong presentation of
materials. This shows how OER can drive up quality.
We are now working on ePub versions to ensure availability
across multiple platforms and multiple devices
eBooks

13. Example iBook Pages

14. OER
resource
converted
to .Doc file
.Doc
edited to
suit
desired
formatting
Graphs
redesigned
where
needed for
B&W Kindle
display.
Tested on
Kindle
through
conversion to
.mobi format
(KDP)
Reduced
amount of
imagery to
suit Kindle
display….in
direct
contrast to
iBooks
.Doc
uploaded to
Smashwords
and made
available
through
‘meatgrinder’
into multiple
formats:
- ePub
- Mobi
- PDF
- HTML
- RTF
ePub creation process

15. Platform Published Comments
Apple iBook
store
Yes Proprietary format, but high quality results are easily achievable
Amazon
Kindle (KDP)
No Not able to publish for free – will price match with other providers
Smashwords Yes Easy to use and facilitates access to other eBook stores.
CC licencing not possible in metadata but can be added to description
Barns &
Noble
Yes Publishing possible through Smashwords distribution.
Requires credit information if publishing through B&N directly.
Kobo No Publishing possible through Smashwords distribution
Requires ISBN
Bibliostatic No Response from provider that they cannot add much to the distribution
beyond what we already have with Smashwords
Project
Gutenberg
Yes & No No longer used due to difficulty in using site and reliability concerns
eBook Distribution

19. 4.5%
18.5%
77.0%
OER
ePub
iBook
Impact: Downloads

20. Impact: Accessed
1.5%
67.0%
6.0%
25.5%
OER download
OER viewed
ePub
iBook

21. • Conversion to ePub format does
widen access… no surprizes there!
• 33% increase in access over a 5 month period
• OER eBook publication is relatively easy…
– even if publishers aren’t facilitating this process yet!
• Online remains preferred access route
• iBooks currently most popular downloaded format
• Authors see eBooks has a higher quality output
• Comparative focus groups with students a potential
next step
Conclusions

22. Next steps: M NOOCs

23. Thank You