Open Education 2017

The Open Textbook Network (OTN) is an alliance of more than 380 colleges and universities committed to improving education through the use of open textbooks. The OTN was built on some basic faculty education and engagement strategies that were found to be effective in convincing faculty to adopt open textbooks. While the successful growth of the OTN has been primarily based on this effective faculty development, these tactics are grounded in a larger vision for open education in higher education.

Central to this model is the belief that open education is critical to the mission of colleges and universities - so critical that it merits the ongoing investment of institutional resources in the effort. These resources are used to embed the necessary work required for a sustainable open education ecosystem (e.g., adoption, editing, creation, pedagogy) within and across higher education institutions. The OTN's efforts are focused on motivating faculty, staff, and institutional leaders to enact this permanent change.

Many in the field of open education are only looking to for-profit ventures in their quest for the "business model" for open education (presumably because for-profit companies are primary players in course content today). In contrast, the OTN is working toward a vision where colleges and universities are primarily and collectively responsible for course content. As open education leader Hal Plotkin once said, "We have a business model for open education. It's called 'schools.'"

The presentation will describe this vision, the strategies that the OTN is using to move toward that vision, and measures of progress to date.