A Review of Open Access Textbook Platforms

Abstract

Open educational resources or OER have been gradually evolved as a major source of learning materials. As one form of OER, open access textbooks can be used as official textbooks for classroom-based learning as well as online learning and distance learning. Through a review of six open access textbook platforms, this paper investigates the operation model of open access textbooks, including their set-up, sourcing and updating of contents, open licenses, usages, review and quality assurance. It is revealed that open access textbook platforms were usually initiated by universities and non-profit organizations, partnering with philanthropic foundations and government bodies. The 5Rs (retain, re-use, revise, re-mix and re-distribute) provision via open licenses is the distinguished advantage of open access textbooks, especially in enabling adaptation to cater for specific teaching and learning needs. Peer review is the common practices for ensuring the quality of textbooks. It is evidenced that open access textbooks together with other forms of OER have successfully driven the effective sharing of educational resources to make education well accessible to all.