Atlantic Region Open FAQ

What is an open ? Yes, each book, chapter, and section has a It is a textbook released with an open- permanent, customizable link that can be added to licence and made available online and in a variety any LMS. of file types to be freely used by students, teachers, and members of the public. Can I integrate applications such as H5P and Hypothesis, MathJax, and TablePress when Does using open textbooks affect student learning? creating/adapting my open textbook on Most studies have found equal or improved student Pressbooks? outcomes. A summary of current research on the Yes, Pressbooks supports integration with many impact of OER can be found at the OER Research plugins (Hypothesis, MathJax, TablePress), the Hub. creation of interactive content through H5P, and tracking of usage through Google Analytics. What is the level of quality of open textbooks? Open textbooks are developed and reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to Can I integrate grade pass-back between my book assess their quality and most are vetted through a and my course in the LMS? traditional peer review process. Here is an example Pressbooks uses learning tools interoperability of a book record that includes a peer review. (LTI) to enable users to embed Pressbooks content within an LMS interface in Canvas and How do I create/adapt an open textbook? Moodle and have it appear natively. This is an Through the Atlantic Open Educational Resources optional add-on for each institution. (Atlantic OER) initiative, CAUL-CBUA provides access to Pressbooks, a digital authoring and Can I collaborate with other educators to publishing platform that enables educators to create/adapt an open textbook? create/adapt open textbooks for their courses. Yes! Working with others to create a common textbook that you all use for your courses is one of Can an open textbook be linked from within my the great benefits of the open textbook model. You course page on my institution’s Learning can have an unlimited number of collaborators Management System (LMS)? working on a common textbook using Pressbooks.

What are licenses? Can I use the textbook on mobile devices? Creative Commons licenses are customizable The webbook interface is built to be responsive to copyright licenses that work alongside copyright all screen sizes: mobile, desktop, or tablet. The law to give explicit permission for users to reuse design includes several features to help readers as items under specific circumstances. Applying a they work through the text. Creative Commons license to your work changes the familiar "All rights reserved" to "Some rights Is there any money to help fund the creation of reserved," with explicit rules about what can and open textbooks? cannot be done with the item. Yes! Look for more information soon about incentivization grants for individuals and group Won't I be infringing on copyright if I use these sprints. materials? Open textbooks are licensed to allow reuse and What kind of support is available to help me revision. Terms of the licenses will vary so be sure create/adapt an open textbook? to read the license thoroughly. Each institution has a designated contact for support. CAUL-CBUA is also developing an OER Can students print an open textbook? Toolkit (guides, videos, webinars, etc.), as well as Most open textbooks can be downloaded as a PDF grants to support individuals and group sprints. and printed with a standard desktop printer. Educators can also connect their book to a FAQs adapted in part from SPARC's FAQ: Open commercial printing service or use the printing Educational Resources (CC-BY), the Open services at their institution. Textbook Library’s FAQ, BCcampus Open Education Adaptation Guide (CC-BY), BCcampus Will it cost students anything? Open Education Self-Publishing Guide (CC-BY), & Accessing an open textbook online is free and eCampus Ontario’s Open Textbook Library FAQ. students can also print pages or chapters on their own. If students would like to order a complete printed copy there is a nominal cost.

Atlantic Region Open Textbook Repository FAQ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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