{"id":238,"date":"2016-10-04T14:40:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T14:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/authorsguide\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=238"},"modified":"2017-11-17T23:26:22","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T23:26:22","slug":"what-are-open-textbooks","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/chapter\/what-are-open-textbooks\/","title":{"raw":"What are Open Textbooks?","rendered":"What are Open Textbooks?"},"content":{"raw":"<span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebPage\"><span itemprop=\"text\">An\u00a0open textbook\u00a0is a textbook licensed under an open copyright license, and made available online to be used freely by students, teachers, and members of the public.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\r\n\r\nOpen textbooks:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>are created by educators;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>are reviewed by educators;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>contribute to successful learning outcomes.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>What makes open textbooks different from a traditional textbook?<\/h2>\r\nTraditionally published textbooks are produced under closed copyright, meaning they cannot be shared, re-used, or re-purposed. They are usually costly (hundreds of dollars each) with new editions published frequently, rendering texts that are only a year or two old out of date. Digital editions or e-textbooks from\u00a0commercial\u00a0publishers, though slightly less expensive, are sold with digital rights management software that means the books only appear on a student's e-reader for a short period of time (4-6 months), preventing them from keeping the book for future reference, or re-selling it to their fellow students.\r\n\r\nIn contrast to traditional textbooks, openly licensed textbooks give faculty the ability to use any portion of a textbook in their courses without requiring students to purchase an entire book, or to make the content of a given textbook more pedagogically appropriate for their specific educational context.\u00a0<span>The open licensing of open textbooks allows for collaborations on and improvements to textbooks from contributors around the world.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebPage\"><span itemprop=\"text\">When an instructor uses an\u00a0open textbook as an assigned reading, students have the option to access the digital edition\u00a0for free through a website or via\u00a0download to e-readers or tablets. Students can purchase a low-cost paper copy\u00a0via print-on-demand services.<\/span><\/span>\r\n<h2><strong>Why use open textbooks?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/107562715\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\nEducation is much more than the textbooks used to educate students. The quality of instruction, the entire post-secondary experience, the learning environment all contribute to education. Post-secondary institutions do not 'compete' on the content of their textbooks or courses \u2013 rather an institution provides <em>unique educational experiences<\/em>. That is what makes a student choose one institution over another.\u00a0Open textbooks can provide these unique educational experiences by adapting and personalizing content to meet learners' needs.\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\"><span>This page is adapted from \"<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/open.bccampus.ca\/open-textbook-faq\/\">Open Textbook FAQ,<\/a><span>\" BCcampus Open Textbook Project,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/open.bccampus.ca\/open-textbook-faq\/\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0<\/a><\/div>","rendered":"<p><span itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebPage\"><span itemprop=\"text\">An\u00a0open textbook\u00a0is a textbook licensed under an open copyright license, and made available online to be used freely by students, teachers, and members of the public.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Open textbooks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>are created by educators;<\/li>\n<li>are reviewed by educators;<\/li>\n<li>contribute to successful learning outcomes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What makes open textbooks different from a traditional textbook?<\/h2>\n<p>Traditionally published textbooks are produced under closed copyright, meaning they cannot be shared, re-used, or re-purposed. They are usually costly (hundreds of dollars each) with new editions published frequently, rendering texts that are only a year or two old out of date. Digital editions or e-textbooks from\u00a0commercial\u00a0publishers, though slightly less expensive, are sold with digital rights management software that means the books only appear on a student&#8217;s e-reader for a short period of time (4-6 months), preventing them from keeping the book for future reference, or re-selling it to their fellow students.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to traditional textbooks, openly licensed textbooks give faculty the ability to use any portion of a textbook in their courses without requiring students to purchase an entire book, or to make the content of a given textbook more pedagogically appropriate for their specific educational context.\u00a0<span>The open licensing of open textbooks allows for collaborations on and improvements to textbooks from contributors around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebPage\"><span itemprop=\"text\">When an instructor uses an\u00a0open textbook as an assigned reading, students have the option to access the digital edition\u00a0for free through a website or via\u00a0download to e-readers or tablets. Students can purchase a low-cost paper copy\u00a0via print-on-demand services.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why use open textbooks?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/107562715\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Education is much more than the textbooks used to educate students. The quality of instruction, the entire post-secondary experience, the learning environment all contribute to education. Post-secondary institutions do not &#8216;compete&#8217; on the content of their textbooks or courses \u2013 rather an institution provides <em>unique educational experiences<\/em>. That is what makes a student choose one institution over another.\u00a0Open textbooks can provide these unique educational experiences by adapting and personalizing content to meet learners&#8217; needs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\"><span>This page is adapted from &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/open.bccampus.ca\/open-textbook-faq\/\">Open Textbook FAQ,<\/a><span>&#8221; BCcampus Open Textbook Project,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/open.bccampus.ca\/open-textbook-faq\/\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[47],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-238","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-standard"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":923,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/238\/revisions\/923"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/238\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/authorsguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}