PROSE: PreTeXt-Runestone Open Source Ecosystem | An NSF project supporting Open Educational Resources in STEM

"PROSE is a project scoping the development of an Open-Source Ecosystem (OSE) surrounding PreTeXt and Runestone software products that enable the authoring and publishing of accessible Open Educational Resources in STEM. Through a series of virtual and in-person roundtable discussions, office hours, and workshops, we will engage instructors, authors, publishers, and researchers using these products to develop a vision and strategic plan for our OSE.... PreTeXt is an open-source language that allows STEM textbook authors to describe their content in a single source. This content can include words, images, embeddable videos, applets, and much more. Our open-source software is able to convert this single source into a printable PDF, accessible and interactive HTML, tactile braille code, and more formats. These documents can then be deployed to freely-available static web hosts, with GitHub Pages support built-in. Runestone is a Learning Engineering Analytics Portal (LEAP) built with open-source software that enhances PreTeXt-authored HTML, providing an all-inclusive solution for managing a course. Students and instructors are able to log into Runestone-hosted textbooks, allowing instructors to assign content from the book for students to complete online. Going beyond a traditional learning management system, Runestone applies evidence-based principles and methods from educational technology and the learning sciences to create engaging and effective learning experiences, supporting the difficulties and challenges of learners as they learn. Runestone’s deep analytics not only help students and instructors optimize learning, but also support authors and researchers that want to study how books are being used, and evaluate interactive pedagogical features of online books that improve student learning...."