New Hope For Open Source Textbooks

Editor’s note:?Verne Kopytoff is a technology journalist who lives the the Bay area. A college textbook can cost a staggering $200. Over four years of study, students can easily spend thousands of dollars on books on top of a hefty tuition. The situation is not much better in public elementary, middle and high schools, where taxpayers pick up the bill. California spends around $100 on every math and science book for its 2 million high school students, for example. But textbooks don?t have to be such a financial burden. Free digital open source textbooks are a promising alternative for states looking to cut costs and for universities trying to spare students from the soaring price of higher education. A growing number of laptop computers and tablets in the classroom provide an even greater opportunity to switch. Indeed, the fledgling open source textbook movement is getting extra attention these days. Experiments are underway in a number of states and districts. Last month, Utah?s State Office of Education said it would start a program to make open source textbooks available to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Washington State?s legislature is considering a similar program. The idea of open source textbooks is not new. They have been around for more than a decade, a period in which the major commercial publishers hiked textbook prices faster than inflation. Until recently, however, open source textbooks gained little traction, in part, because of the byzantine process for approving school books. State and local school boards, which insure that books meet standards, are not known for innovative thinking. California?s experiment with open source books started in 2009 when then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, facing a huge budget shortfall, endorsed a digital textbook initiative to quickly bring digital textbooks in the classroom. The effort, however, fell far short of the revolutionary change that he had hoped for. A state body evaluated a number of digital high school textbooks as to whether they met state standards. But the review served as merely a guide for local school districts, which have the ultimate say in which books they use and are under no requirement that those books be open source. Nor does it help the cause that most open source textbooks?produced by a mix of non-profits, academics and a handful of companies?lack the polish of the major commercial publishers like Pearson and McGraw-Hill. Anyone scanning the books will immediately notice

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