Update: April 28, 2020
In March, Campus Manitoba and Open Ed Manitoba joined regular discussions with Vretta and BCcampus regarding the OpenStax textbook distribution project. Dylan Woodcock, Virtual Help Desk Associate at Campus Manitoba, says: “The Manitoba Open Textbook Initiative is pleased to be involved in monthly consultations with BCcampus and Vretta. It allows us a chance to discuss the growing momentum of open education within and beyond our province, and serves as an excellent learning opportunity and opening to future collaboration.”
During the first quarter of 2020, leading up to Manitoba’s involvement, interest in and sales of OpenStax textbooks were growing in B.C. and across Canada. However, once COVID-19 disrupted the status quo, that upward climb stalled. Regardless, Vretta has committed to prioritizing the needs of students and instructors by ensuring that OpenStax hardcover textbooks are still readily available for purchase across Canada.
Original: October 8, 2019
To all instructors who have been waiting for more OpenStax textbooks to be added to Pressbooks, your wait is over!
Post by Lauri Aesoph, Manager, Open Education
Current versions of all 33 OpenStax textbooks in the B.C. Open Textbook Collection are now part of the BCcampus Pressbooks library thanks to co-op student, Kaitlyn Zheng, and Josie Gray, Coordinator of Collection Quality.
The open textbook collection built by OpenStax–a non-profit organization based out of Rice University in Houston, Texas–contains 59 books. Of these, 33 books are part of the B.C. Open Textbook Collection. Not included are AP (Advanced Placement), translations, or first editions for which second editions have been released.
B.C. and Yukon instructors and staff who have created accounts on the free BCcampus self-serve instance of Pressbooks (and anyone with a Pressbooks account) can make copies of these OpenStax books by following instructions in the Add Content part of the Pressbooks Guide.
Links to Pressbooks copies can be found in the B.C. Open Textbook Collection by locating the record page for a specific OpenStax textbook and clicking on the “Editable” label under Get This Book on the right-hand side of the textbook’s web page. A second click to “Editable: Pressbooks copy” takes the user to their final destination and the first step toward customization.
Notable quote:
“We’re pleased that BCcampus has taken steps to make OpenStax textbooks even more flexible for faculty and we’re excited about the opportunities this unlocks for the BCcampus community.” - Kathi Fletcher, Technical Director, OpenStax
