Free Digital-Textbook Venture at Rice U. Adds Users and Titles
eekilcer@gmail.com's bookmark collection 2013-08-29
Summary:
"A little more than one year after its debut, the digital-textbook program OpenStax College is set to expand by adding a sixth title to its slate of free online textbooks.
OpenStax doubled the number of professors adopting its textbooks during the past four months, bringing the total to 319 at 297 colleges and universities. The program is expected to save 40,000 students more than $3.7-million in textbook costs during the 2013-14 academic year....
OpenStax, a nonprofit group based at Rice University, will add an introductory-statistics text in October. Five additional titles will be available for download by 2015, according to officials.
OpenStax is also expanding its platforms. It currently has two titles on Apple iBooks for $4.99 per download, and there are plans to place all the OpenStax textbooks in the Apple iBook catalog. The iBooks have interactive features, including graphics, video, and quizzes. And students have the option to purchase the books in print....
OpenStax is working to build a catalog of 25 textbooks that will pack the biggest possible punch for students, Mr. Baraniuk said. Its offerings are being developed based on college courses with the most students in the United States—and those with the most expensive textbooks."