A review on the development of an online platform for open textbooks

Abstract

Open textbooks are typical open education resources that are freely and openly available for anyone to use and re-use, usually through an online platform which serves at least four purposes. First, it provides a repository for hosting the open textbooks. Second, it provides functions for users to access the open textbooks, both online and offline. Third, it also provides functions for users to contribute, revise, remix and redistribute the textbook contents. Forth, it allows users to rate and comment on the textbook contents. This paper shares our experience in developing an experimental platform for open textbooks, especially on the technical limitations and problems. The key functions of an open textbook platform are identified. It is learnt that user friendliness and easiness for use are the design objectives so a simple and concise user interface is required. It is however revealed that a right balance between user friendliness and functional comprehensiveness is important but difficult to achieve. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.