Dulaney-Browne Library: Open Educational Resources: Open Textbooks

Find Open Textbooks

Many of the collections listed below will have links to the same books, but each repository has a particular focus, and includes items not found in other collections.

This is not a complete list and will be updated periodically. Suggestions for sites to include are welcome.

OpenStax College OpenStax College offers students free, peer-reviewed, professional textbooks that meet scope and sequence requirements for most courses. Online versions are free, and many are available in print as well at low cost. Instructors can also customize the books to suit the needs of their own courses.
University of Minnesota Open Textbook Library The UMN Open Textbook Library allows for both searching and subject browsing to locate OER textbooks in various disciplines. The texts are mostly available in .pdf format which can be downloaded, and then printed if desired.
British Columbia Open Collection BC Open Textbooks lists dozens of OER textbooks on various subjects, indicating those that have been reviewed by faculty. They are available in both digital and print formats, and some have supplemental materials such as PowerPoints or test banks.
Lumen Learning Lumen has two options: Waymaker is their series of open courses on a variety of high-demand subjects and disciplines, using high quality open educational resources (OER) rather than commercial textbooks. Candela utilizes low-cost e-textbooks plus additional OER materials. You can use them as-is or modify them to fit your instructional style and students' needs.
2012 Book Archive These are the open access, 2012 versions of many textbooks originally available through Flatworld that have since become more restricted (but often more updated).

Selected Open Textbooks

The following list are examples of open access textbooks available in various academic fields. There are many more out there; see the Find Open Textbooks box on this page to search for additional options.

You should always note what type of license applies to any open textbook you choose to use, as they do vary. See the Copyright and Creative Commons Licensing tab for more information on what the different licenses permit.

The American Yawp The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses.
more...less...
Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, _The American Yawp_ is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.
Hybrid-Flexible Course Design This volume provides readers with methods, case stories, and strategies related to Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex) course design so that they may make decisions about using it themselves and even begin their own HyFlex course (re)design.
more...less...
More specifically, based on the needs identified for their course(s), readers will be able to a) determine if and how HyFlex course design could help them solve critical needs, b) take advantage of emerging opportunities to improve their education practice, enabling them to better serve more students, c) gain an awareness of the HyFlex design, d) find their own innovative HyFlex solution to their specific challenges, and e) begin the HyFlex implementation process using strategies similar to those used by instructors described in this book. The volume describes the fundamental principles of HyFlex design, explains a process for design and development, and discusses implementation factors that instructors have experienced in various higher education institutions. These factors include the drivers, the variations in implementation approaches and constraints, and the results (e.g., student scores, student satisfaction). A series of worksheets provides specific guidance that can be used by individuals or teams engaging in HyFlex design projects at their own institution. Case reports from institutions and faculty who have successfully implemented HyFlex-style courses provide a rich set of real-world stories to draw insights for a reader’s own design setting.
Introduction to Statistics This basic introduction to the principles of statistics includes topics such as graphing, summarizing, and sampling distributions; testing means; regression; chi square; effect size; and research design. The topics are presented in modular fashion so that an instructor can choose the desired order of presentation of different topics.
Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective OER textbook on lifespan development, with chapters covering the entire span of human life from prenatal through death. Authored by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French.
Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom Music Theory for the 21st–Century Classroom is an openly–licensed online four–semester college music theory textbook. This text differs from other music theory textbooks by focusing less on four–part (SATB) voiceleading and more on relating harmony to the phrase. In Music Theory for the 21st–Century Classroom, students learn about motive, fragment, phrase, and subphrase, as well as types of melodic alteration like inversion, intervallic change, augmentation, diminution, rhythmic change, ornamentation, extension, and retrograde. This text is meant to take the student from the basics of reading and writing pitches and rhythms through twelve–tone technique and minimalism over the course of four semesters. Whenever possible, examples from popular music and music from film and musical theater are included to illustrate melodic and harmonic concepts, usually within the context of the phrase.
Principles of Economics This textbook covers the scope and sequence for a two-semester principles of economics course. The text also includes many current examples, including; discussions on the great recession, the controversy among economists over the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the recent government shutdown, and the appointment of the United States’ first female Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen.
Writing Commons This is a free, comprehensive, peer-reviewed, award-winning Open Text for students and faculty in college-level courses that require writing and research. It has been adopted for use in courses at Duke University, Ohio State, and the University of South Florida-Tampa.

About Open Textbooks

7 Things You Should Know About Open Textbook Publishing The open educational resources model, including textbooks, has emerged as a response to rising text prices, a need for greater access to high-quality learning materials, the proliferation of e-reader devices, and a trend in publishing toward electronic media. Many contend that educational resources should be open and that instructional models increasingly depend on open content. Open textbooks can be offered by commercial publishers or found in open repositories. Open resources can promote active learning through student interaction with the text, particularly when they contribute to authorship. Although open textbooks face questions about the accuracy and reliability of their content, they allow higher education instructors to design content for their courses on an as-needed basis, choosing from an array of books, articles, videos, audio recordings, and readings.
7 Things You Should Know About the Evolution of the Textbook Tablet devices and the publishing they enable are leading us to reconsider what constitutes a textbook, and they certainly change the landscape of what it has traditionally meant to write and publish one. A new breed of rich-media publishing tools offers an evolving set of opportunities both for the creation process and for the kinds of resources that can be produced. These resources could include 3D charts and tables, interactive maps, continual updates, and quizzes with instant feedback. The integration of text with various kinds of media, coupled with broad access to new creation tools, could result in these resources becoming valuable parts of students’ digital learning landscapes.