Open Textbooks
Electronic textbooks (eTextbooks, eBooks) are digital versions of textbooks. The media varies widely from digital reproductions of print editions to versions that include embedded animations, video and interactive features. A good deal of interest in using e-textbooks comes from the reduced cost for students.
Most e-textbooks are currently distributed by commercial publishers and have DRM (digital rights management). They can be read via computer, smartphones and using eReaders, such as the Kindle, depending on the file format.
OPEN TEXTBOOKS
An open textbook is a free, openly-licensed textbook offered online by its author(s).
The most common questions in using open textbooks are:
- Who will write them?
- Who will pay for them to be produced? (if payment is made at all)
- How will quality standards be established and maintained?
- Who will host/offer them?
I first became involved with this resource via the CCOTC (Community College Open Textbook Consortium) which reviews and collects available textbooks in order to encourage adoption.
A sample textbook from their site is Collaborative Statistics by Barbara Illowsky. On the page for this text, you can read the book, read the peer review, the accessibility review, tour the course the author offers (via Sofia) and see a list of adoptions.
Math is often one of the largest areas in open textbook repositories because these books and problem sets have a long "shelf life" of being viable. (see the math section at collegeopentextbooks.org as an example)
Next - adopting an open textbook