Many of you who are active in the OER community will already know Rajiv Jhangiani’s name. Besides being the co-editor of a well-regarded 2017 book on open education, “Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science,” and an outspoken advocate for open pedagogy and improving global access to educational opportunities, Rajiv currently…
Staff at the Teaching and Learning Centre and Distance Education units at the University of Saskatchewan are steadily building their OER program. They started with the adoption and adaptation of openly licensed textbooks by faculty at the university and are now beginning to develop ancillary materials. To learn more about OER development at USask, we…
It was while searching for a tool to help an American Government professor adapt an open textbook that James Paradiso, an instructional designer at University of Central Florida, discovered his university’s Pressbooks instance. UCF is a member of Unizin, a consortium of higher education institutions across the United States. Unizin offers access to educational software…
The Evolution of Affordable Content Efforts in the Higher Education Environment: Programs, Case Studies, and Examples, edited by Kristi Jensen and Shane Nackerud, is one of the latest books to be published by University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing on the Libraries’ Pressbooks network. The book is a compilation of case studies that delve deeply into…
University of Texas at Arlington is using its PressbooksEDU system as a platform on which to build open educational resources as part of UTA Libraries’ open education program. Open Education Librarian Michelle Reed says the program supports open education broadly, including distribution of grant funding for the creation and adoption of OER, as well as…
At The Ohio State University, Pressbooks has become an integral platform for the university’s open textbook affordability initiative. The university already has 18 published books on its Pressbooks network, a handful of private books being used in OSU classes, and almost 60 new books in development, says Michael Shiflet, Digital Publishing Coordinator, Affordability and…
At Pressbooks, we’re beyond excited to be partnering with Unizin, a nonprofit consortium of leading higher education institutions, to host PressbooksEDU networks at 14 U.S. universities. The universities include: Indiana University Ohio State Oregon State University Penn State University of Central Florida University of Iowa University of Florida University of Michigan University of Minnesota University…
Back by popular demand! Here are the top things authors need to know as they go to compile an ebook. 1. Ebook development is not the same as web development. A Web developer knows how to develop Web sites that will look good in a browser. An ebook developer designs books that will look good on ereader…
Editing is possibly the most crucial–and costly–service you’ll need as an independent publisher. Here are some questions to ask when interviewing your book editor to be sure you find the right editor for your project and the best value for your investment. Q1. What type of editor are you? Just because someone has the…
Q. What’s the difference between a fixed layout ebook and a regular ebook? A. Normal ebooks that you’re reading (such as a regular Kindle book or novel, etc.) are what’s called “reflowable.” With a reflowable ebook, on the page you can resize the fonts and the book just reorganizes itself. You can make bigger fonts, smaller…