

Rice Uiversity Announces Open Source Textbooks - aheilbut
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/07/rice-university-announces-open-source-textbooks

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Cyranix
The Connexions platform has been around for a while now, and as I recall
students whose classes used it were happy with it, from both a price and
usability standpoint. Glad to see that the program is getting more ambitious
-- the move ties in nicely with the backlash against Elsevier. The rise of
open-source competitors to academic content providers seems like a huge win
for students and institutions alike.

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zellyn
Wow. I wonder if "algebra-based" means "no calculus".
<http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/college-physics>

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drcube
At my school, yep. There were two tracks: Physics for scientists and
engineers, which used calculus, and physics for arts/humanities, which was
"algebra based".

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derekyle
If the publishing industry has anyone with half a brain working for them, they
should see themselves going the way of the music industry. They need to
innovate fast. Open source books are only part of the problem (and by problem,
I mean only their problem). It is becoming easier and easier to find torrents
to download full color versions of many of the most popular textbooks.

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ChuckMcM
Go Rice! This has been a long time in coming. Lots of undergraduate classes
will be hugely benefited by this sort of effort.

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stephenhuey
I remember classmates coding for the Connexions platform just over a decade
ago. Here's the announcement and video that Rice University just posted:

[http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID...](http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=16745&SnID=1521497554)

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keithpeter
The OpenStax publications look most interesting, alas, the e-mail notification
form will only accept US zip codes.

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greenyoda
Not sure why that's a problem, since that field is optional.

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keithpeter
True, but it does 'send a message' if you see what I mean.

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iqster
Anyone see the list of textbooks? I couldn't find it.

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greenyoda
Click on the orange "our books" button. It will take you to:

<http://openstaxcollege.org/books>

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aheilbut
I'm looking forward to when this hits high school.

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Drbble
ck12.org

