Legislation is in the California Senate committee trying to set up a digital library for California public universities. It will create an online resource housing opensource educational resources. Open source materials are published under open licenses and can hence be distributed online at minimal cost.
These resources would be based primarily on the findings of a California Open Education Resources Council, a council that would identify the 50 most widely taken lower division courses and then approve the open-source materials created for those classes. Though the bill did not state the way the council would go about identifying which classes to include, and though the focus of classes differs from university to university, the library is still a positive effort to provide low-cost materials to all California public establishments.
This legislation, if moved out of committee and passed, would permit academic materials to be more widely disseminated across the California public education system. More importantly it should ease the financial stress on scholars who pay tons of dollars each semester for college books.
The council wants to answer fears about the standard of open source textbooks. In
These resources would be based primarily on the findings of a California Open Education Resources Council, a council that would identify the 50 most widely taken lower division courses and then approve the open-source materials created for those classes. Though the bill did not state the way the council would go about identifying which classes to include, and though the focus of classes differs from university to university, the library is still a positive effort to provide low-cost materials to all California public establishments.
This legislation, if moved out of committee and passed, would permit academic materials to be more widely disseminated across the California public education system. More importantly it should ease the financial stress on scholars who pay tons of dollars each semester for college books.
The council wants to answer fears about the standard of open source textbooks. In
addition, making the switch to open source materials may be a bother for some professors but this digital opensource library will help in alleviating one of the biggest financial stresses students face.
Beyond simply deciding which courses to provide open source texts for, the council would make a system permitting publishers and faculty members to sign up for funds to create these digital textbooks and other instructional materials for the library to distibute. By having faculty members from the colleges work in the formulation of these textbooks, the quality of materials utilized in school classes would be better maintained. Professors may still be compensated for their work, but with the new library system, students won't have to pay the premium price that they currently do.
About the Author:
Beyond simply deciding which courses to provide open source texts for, the council would make a system permitting publishers and faculty members to sign up for funds to create these digital textbooks and other instructional materials for the library to distibute. By having faculty members from the colleges work in the formulation of these textbooks, the quality of materials utilized in school classes would be better maintained. Professors may still be compensated for their work, but with the new library system, students won't have to pay the premium price that they currently do.
About the Author:
Mr. Bob Jones has been working to help students locate the cheapest school textbooks for over 10 years. For additional information or to see how a college textbook price comparison site works visit Mr. Jones' website at http://www.cheaptextbooks.us.