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Experience a new level of OER creation with the LibreTexts Remixer

Delmar Larsen

Executive Director, LibreTexts

Professor, Department of Chemistry,

University of California, Davis

http://Libretexts.org

https://www.youtube.com/LibreTexts

When it comes to SOLT research, Mount Royal University comes immediately to my mind. I would like to thank Brett and the other organizers of the meeting for the giving me the opportunity to meet with SOTL researchers both at MRU and abroad, that are presenting your excellent results here. I am also thankful for giving me the opportunity to present our Libretexts project centered out of the University of California, Davis, but used internationally as you will learn.

How do we know that students are using the Wiki? In contrast, how do we know they are using print textbooks?

What evidence is there for a digital textbook being a viable replacement to a print textbook?

Are there best practices for adopting a digital textbook?

What peer-review processes does the Wiki undergo?

Are faculty recognized for contributions to the Wiki in a similar manner to writing a commercial textbook, and should they be?

How does LibreText compare to Wikipedia? Can students trust LibreTexts?

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LibreTexts as a Construction Platform

LibreTexts as Dissemination Platform

LibreTexts as a Learning Platform

What is the LibreTexts

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OER content in the libraries are decorated with ancillary technologies (homework system, juypter hub, learning analytics, community forums etc.)��

The Nature of the Textbook is Evolving

LibreTexts Libraries

Javascript Server

Jupyter Notebook

(code)

Query

(Formative Homework)

Learning Analytics

Bot

Server

Commons & Conductor

Forums

ADAPT (Summative homework)

The LibreVerse ecosystem is a next generation textbook platform anchored by central set of libraries based on Wiki technology for at scale collaborative construction and distribution efforts

OER content is massively interconnected. Textbooks reflect the synergistic thinking we want students to develop by graduation.

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LibreTexts Usage Impact

440,229

https://statistics.libretexts.org/

Monthly Pageviews

Accumulated Pageviews

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The Utility of Abstraction Layers

OER Resource 1

OER Resource 2

OER Resource 3

OER Resource 4

OER Resource 5

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Faculty 1

Faculty 2

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The Utility of Abstraction Layers

OER Resource 1

OER Resource 2

OER Resource 3

OER Resource 4

OER Resource 5

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Faculty 1

Faculty 2

Libretexts as a de facto Abstraction Layer

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The Utility of Abstraction Layers

OER Resource 1

OER Resource 2

OER Resource 3

OER Resource 4

OER Resource 5

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Faculty 1

Faculty 2

Libretexts as a de facto Abstraction Layer

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The OER Universe is Fragmented

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Building a Better Bucket of Legos

Just with any construction project, there are many options and many formats available for constructing a OER textbook.

Centralized
Standardized
Interconverted
Collections
Flexible
Curatable

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The OER Remixer is a self-service tool to rapidly assemble a LibreText from existing sources.

The Remixer

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Combining Centralized and Decentralized Approaches

LibreTexts provides the strengths of centralized and flexibility of decentralized approaches

High Stability/fidelity
Effective Sharing & Pooled Resources
Efficient
Ease of dissemination
Seamlessly integrates content over multiple sub-fields or across different fields
Facilitates highly-collaborative and highly-distributed construction efforts

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Dissemination Options within the LibreTexts

LibreTexts content is distributed via multiple mechanisms

PDFs
LMS (embeddable)
Print files
EPUB (this summer)
Physical Books
Raspberry Pis (hotspots)

Since 1/1/2020, LibreTexts has:

1,300,000 PDF downloads
3,000 physical books through our bookstore

Often students who need OER resources the most are the very people most likely to lack access to the internet. Housing insecure students have intermittent access to the internet and require alternative options for their OER textbooks than online access.

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