WMU Research Guides: Textbook Alternatives: Projects, Initiatives, and other resources

Presentations

OpenStax presentation
PowerPoint presentation created by Nicole Finkbeiner of the OpenStax project. Given at WMU Libraries, March 31, 2017

Open Education: The moral, business, and policy case for OER
Presentation by Dr. Cable Green, given at Lansing Community College, February 24, 2017.

Support for authors and developers of open educational resources

Faculty member and instructors who are interested in making their texts or other educational resources available for use by others should be aware that support and hosting services are available through the WMU Libraries. Open educational resources developed by WMU faculty may be hosted through ScholarWorks at WMU. If you would like to investigate a project please contact Michele Behr (michele.behr@wmich.edu)

Consortia, Initiatives and Advocacy

Open Textbook Network
Membership organization of institutions of higher education who promotes access, affordability, and student success through the use of open textbooks.
Washington Open Course Library
The Open Course Library is a collection of expertly developed educational materials – including textbooks, syllabi, course activities, readings, and assessments – in 81 high-enrollment college courses. The courses provide faculty with a high-quality, affordable option that will cost students no more than $30 for textbooks. Unless otherwise noted, all materials are shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY) license.
Affordable Learning Georgia
College Open Textbooks
A consortium of colleges and publishers.
UC Berkley Open Educational Resources in Higher Education
Reports, links and information on open educational resources from the UC Berkley Libraries.
MERLOT
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) is a free and open peer reviewed collection of online teaching and learning materials and faculty-developed services contributed and used by an international education community.
Affordable College Textbook Act
The Affordable College Textbook Act seeks to expand the use of open textbooks on college campuses, providing affordable alternatives to traditional textbooks.
Open SUNY Textbooks
Open SUNY Textbooks is a ground-breaking open access textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York libraries and supported by SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants. This highly innovative initiative publishes high-quality, cost-effective course resources by engaging faculty as authors and peer-reviewers, and libraries as an integral part of the publishing infrastructure.

Reports and other information

Seven things you should know about open textbook publishing
A brief report produced by Educause.
"Opening the Textbook: New Opportunities for Libraries and Publishers?"
Report authored by Nancy Maron of Ithaka S+R, "looks at recent trends in textbook publishing and suggests that collaborations between university presses and academic libraries might yield a new breed of textbook more aligned to the needs of faculty and students."
Guidelines for open educational resources (OER) in higher education
UNESCO report intended to support governments, higher education institutions/providers, academic staff, student bodies and quality assurance/accreditation and recognition bodies.
Growing the curriculum: open education resources in US higher education
Issued in 2012, this report was sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Pearson publishing and others.

Textbook Alternatives Workshop

OFD Textbook Alternatives Workshop
Powerpoint presentation from workshop held March, 2014

The WMU Office of Faculty Development hosted a workshop on Textbook Alternatives as part of the "Cool Tools" workshop series in March of 2014. The file below is the PowerPoint presentation from the workshop.

Michigan Library Association Poster Presentation

Behr Hayward poster

See the attached file for the poster "Textbook Alternatives: Library Supported Options for Students and Faculty" which was presented at the Michigan Library Association Academic Libraries Conference, May, 2014.

Subject and Course Guides

Textbook Alternatives