FreeTextbooks.org

$33,000 in UA grants aim to cut student textbook costs
Source: arkansasonline.com • 29-Apr-17

Similar to the recent news out of Maryland, UA Fayetteville is offering grants to encourage professors to adopt OER. This is starting to look like an interesting experiment. Publishers claim they add value beyond just selling expensive textbooks, but just how much value is that? Is a $3000 grant paid to professors sufficient to make up for the lost value added by the publisher?
panOpen and Learnosity Partner to Offer the First OER Platform with Commercial-Quality Assessments and Homework
Source: prweb.com • 26-Apr-17

This is a press release. I am not familiar with either of these players so I can't tell how significant this is. panOpen seems to be bundler of OER curriculum with some classroom management software, while Learnosity provides a testing platform and lists as its "partners" Pearson and Houghton Mifflin, among others.
Ohio governor's $300 textbook plan is dead.
Source: journal-news.com • 25-Apr-17

Mentioned here in March. It's been killed in the Ohio house of representatives. The approach may have been a bit ham-fisted, but it had the benefit making the decision makers feel some of the pain of rising prices
Hacker News is discussing the Quartz article from last week
Source: ycombinator.com • 25-Apr-17

I love their discussions because they actively discourage flame wars.
A New Value Proposition for Open Textbooks
Source: insidehighered.com • 24-Apr-17
The steps towards open resource materials
Source: dailycampus.com • 24-Apr-17

The Daily Campus (University of Connecticut newspaper) editorial about the Daily Campus story (posted here on 4/14) about an OER panel at UConn.
Open Educational Resources (OER): Frequently Asked Questions
Source: edtechstrategies.com • 22-Apr-17
Open Educational Resources Movement Welcomes Growing Pains
Source: chronicle.com • 21-Apr-17

Letter to the Editer of the Chronical of Higher Education in response to an article (paywalled) about growing pains in OER. The letter is written by Dr. David Wiley, Chief Academic Officer at Lumen Learning.
Textbooks are too much
Source: thetriangle.org • 21-Apr-17

From the Drexel University newspaper
Open Educational Resources, Explained (Video)
Source: edweek.org • 19-Apr-17
Houghton Mifflin plans to cut hundreds of employees
Source: bizjournals.com • 19-Apr-17
Turning Point for OER Use?
Source: insidehighered.com • 19-Apr-17

IHE gives us 10 reasoned and diverse perspectives on whether New York's commitment of $8 million to OER marks a tipping point. Some of them are "talking their book", so to speak, but they make their points thoughtfully. Rough consensus: there is yet more hill to climb. Betteridge's law of headlines strikes again!
A New Channel for OER
Source: insidehighered.com • 18-Apr-17

Inside Higher Ed reports on the story from earlier this week about Follett and Lumen Learning.
States are moving to cut college costs by introducing open-source textbooks
Source: qz.com • 18-Apr-17
Lumen Learning partners with Follett, secures $3.75 million series A investment
Source: geekwire.com • 17-Apr-17
This Week In Education: DeVos Hires; NY Announces Free College And Free Textbooks
Source: npr.org • 15-Apr-17

NPR notes that there is $8 million in the NY budget for CUNY and SUNY to provide open educational resources for high-enrollment classes
D203's 'Digi' ditches math textbooks for interactive computer learning
Source: chicagotribune.com • 15-Apr-17
UConnPIRG highlights professors implementing open educational resources
Source: dailycampus.com • 14-Apr-17

We should do more of this.
'A Mean Amount of Money’
Source: insidehighered.com • 14-Apr-17
Maryland's Textbook Cost Savings Act of 2017 heads to the governor
Source: maryland.gov • 13-Apr-17

Update on the Maryland bill from last week.
Senate committee addresses 6 higher education bills
Source: theshorthorn.com • 12-Apr-17

Texas Senate bill 810 promotes OER. It now goes to the full senate.
New Washington State Bill Seeks to Increase OER Use and Development
Source: edtechmagazine.com • 12-Apr-17

Update on a story from early February. TLDR; the bill is still awaiting a hearing.
Portland Community College Saves Students, Faculty $1 Million on Textbooks
Source: patch.com • 11-Apr-17
Pearson to partner with Chegg on textbook rentals
Source: thebookseller.com • 10-Apr-17

Here is Pearson's press release.
New York just OK'd tuition-free college for middle class
Source: cnn.com • 10-Apr-17

There are some caveats. Tuition-free doesn't mean free. There are fees, and of course, textbooks. Also recall that other states have gone tuition-free, too, only to have "other fees" rise until they became tuition in all but name.
Texbook manifesto
Source: ycombinator.com • 09-Apr-17

This piece is a year old, but for whatever reason, it caught Hacker News's attention today and their discussions can be enlightening.
Open licensing policy, open educational resource consortium in the pipeline
Source: mathrubhumi.com • 08-Apr-17

India is working on a comprehensive OER policy at the national level. I usually skip stories from India because it's all I can do to keep up with the US and Canada - and the UK to some extent. But this story looks significant.
California State University System Streamlines OER Adoption for Faculty and Students
Source: campustechnology.com • 07-Apr-17
Education Notebook: Figuring out the textbook process
Source: reporternews.com • 07-Apr-17
NCI hopes to recruit students by eliminating textbook costs
Source: martinsvillebulletin.com • 07-Apr-17
Pearson shares decline on worries over virtual schools
Source: ft.com • 06-Apr-17

Subscription required. You can read EdWeek's synopsis.
Indiana University’s eText program saves students over $3.5 million
Source: iu.edu • 06-Apr-17
MASSPIRG holds panel to discuss solutions for high textbook prices
Source: dailycollegian.com • 06-Apr-17

'Toggerson said if he wanted to he could teach his course with Newton’s “The Principia” because the material has not changed in over 400 years. '
Textbook Affordability Act supports faculty’s use of OER
Source: pcccourier.com • 05-Apr-17
Podcast Series Explores Impact of OER
Source: campustechnology.com • 05-Apr-17

The podcast is produced by Cengage and is part one of a six-part series. Direct link to Cengage's OER page with the podcast.
The open educational resources movement is redefining the concept of online textbooks
Source: universityaffairs.ca • 04-Apr-17
District Tech Leaders’ Purchasing Influence Slowly Grows
Source: edweek.org • 04-Apr-17

"Nearly 80 percent of survey respondents said that open educational materials are a part of their districts’ digital content strategy."
Clemson librarian pushes for cheap alternatives to textbooks
Source: thetigernews.com • 03-Apr-17
UMD joins Open Textbook Network
Source: umd.edu • 31-Mar-17
Schools Shift to Free, Public-Domain Curricula
Source: wsj.com • 30-Mar-17

WSJ, so it's paywalled. The article mentions 107 districts that have "committed to replace at least one textbook with free materials within a year." That list can be found here (tech.ed.gov).
U of C to launch open educational resources pilot project
Source: thegauntlet.ca • 30-Mar-17

Here is University of Calgary's press report about it.
Trial and Error: Cutting Textbook Costs
Source: insidehighered.com • 29-Mar-17

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