UConn Leading State's Open Textbook Initiative - UConn Today

The University is leading an effort approved last year by the General Assembly to study the efficacy of using open textbooks for courses as a way of reducing student costs. State Rep. Gregg Haddad (D-Mansfield) championed legislation creating a task force of faculty, administrators, and students representing UConn, the Connecticut State University System, and the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, along with representation from the state Office of Higher Education. At UConn, a committee of faculty, students, and administrative staff has secured a grant of nearly $100,000 from the Davis Education Foundation to introduce open textbooks on campus. The University Libraries will lead the effort to survey faculty about the use of open textbooks, create online workshops for faculty development, and adapt an existing general chemistry textbook. Open textbooks are comprehensive course-linked educational materials, either in the public domain or written under Creative Commons licenses, which allow for the use and reformatting of the content without obtaining permissions from their authors. Open textbooks are commonly accessed free of charge through a variety of digital formats that can be used on a wide range of devices or inexpensively purchased in print form ..."