UK Open Textbooks: Report

The UK Open Textbooks project was conducted in several stages over the period of March 2017 to May 2019. The project tested two highly successful approaches to increasing engagement with, and use of, open textbooks.

We are pleased to announce that our report into the readiness of the UK for open textbooks is now available! You can download a copy or browse the report below.

In the report we conclude that the awareness of OER and open textbooks is typically very low in the UK HE sector. However, awareness of open access publications is high, supported by the Finch Report and REF policy on open access deposition. Although existing knowledge of open textbooks was low, once educators were made aware of them, they expressed significant interest in their adoption. This provides an existing conceptual model and set of practices on which to build.

With limited time and resources, the UK Open Textbook project managed to significantly increase this awareness, by significantly targeting major disciplinary conferences and conducting an intensive programme of workshops. Our findings suggest that a larger project could rapidly achieve significant awareness across the UK HE sector which is smaller and has a number of differences with HE sectors abroad. A number of recommendations are made for policies and practices that can support open textbook adoption, particularly outside the USA and Canada.

UK Open Textbooks is now officially over, but the easiest way to stay in touch with new developments is to follow us on Twitter (@UKOpenTextbooks) and read about new projects at OER Hub.

Suggested citation: Pitt, R., Farrow, R., Jordan, K., de los Arcos, B., Weller, M., Kernohan, D., & Rolfe, V. (2019). The UK Open Textbook Report 2019. Open Education Research Hub. The Open University (UK). Available from http://oerhub.net/reports and http://ukopentextbooks.org