Professors and students are calling for a textbook revolution. The truth is, the printed textbook is too expensive for ordinary students on a budget. The printed book industry has held a monopoly for decades and therefore, had the capability to make textbook prices rise exponentially. This is why open source textbooks are coming at a time when students are looking for alternatives.

1. An Introduction to Open Source
Textbooks
Professors and students are calling for a textbook revolution. The truth is, the printed textbook is too
expensive for ordinary students on a budget. The printed book industry has held a monopoly for
decades and therefore, had the capability to make textbook prices rise exponentially. This is why
open source textbooks are coming at a time when students are looking for alternatives.
The term was first coined to refer to software, meaning other developers can view and use the code
for their own use. When you use the same word for textbooks, this means learning materials that
can be viewed and edited by other professors for their own classes.
How Does it Work?
Open source material doesn't go through the rigorous writing, editing and publishing process that
printed books do. It books the risk of not being properly researched before being used. Because of
this, universities are leading the way to creating these learning materials that still keeps the accuracy
of the information. Professors are being tapped and paid to write the content for open source books
oftentimes supported by the university or other donors.
Professors can also make money whenever these materials are printed. So students and teachers
looking for content to be used for classes, make sure you look for ones that are developed by
universities to ensure the quality of content.
Because these types of books are developed and made available online, technology can be utilized
by these forms of learning materials. For example, Apple has developed their own iBooks author,
making it easy for anyone to design their own content to be viewed on iPads everywhere. Once an
author is done with the open source learning material, they can be uploaded on "bookstores" or
online learning databases to be accessed by students and professors. Open source materials are also
being called greener as no trees are cut down to produce paper and printed books. A student or
professor can just choose which ones to print.

2. Writers who are worried about copyright should also not be worried about licensing, as there are
still options to protect their content. The main difference is that they can still choose to allow certain
uses of their materials. For the Academe, being allowed to use these content for free can help
professors enrich their lessons and make it more interactive and up-to-date, since there is no more
waiting for new editions to come out.
In short, open source textbook adoption a win-win scenario for both professors and teachers.
Information is available online, for a low price or for free, and can be used for personal or
educational purposes. Visit https://www.alduspress.com/
Jules Mariano is a full-time freelance search engine and social media marketing specialist and a web
developer specializing in web content development. He is the co-founder of VPRO Digital Marketing.
He currently writes for BookGator.
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