Digital Course Materials

Here you'll find articles detailing new developments in the area of e-textbooks, open educational resources and other digital course materials, along with stories about institutions adopting them.


digital textbooks

Victor Valley College Cuts Textbook Costs in Half by Going Digital

California's Victor Valley College is embracing a digital-first textbook model through a partnership with courseware platform BibliU.

Pearson channels

Pearson Pairs E-Textbooks with Free Curated Video Library

Pearson has added Channels, a curated library of educational videos, to its Pearson+ e-textbook subscription service.

digital courseware

Lumen Learning Partners with APLU to Pilot Equitable Courseware at More Universities

Digital courseware provider Lumen Learning is working with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities to bring Lumen's Introduction to Statistics course to more colleges and universities across the United States.

Revised Organic Chemistry Text to Be Free Online via OpenStax

Cornell professor emeritus John McMurry’s 10th edition of his bestselling textbook Organic Chemistry will be published by Rice University’s OpenStax open educational resource program next year, according to information released by the university. The textbook, which could normally cost students hundreds of dollars, according to OpenStax, will be available to students for free online, thanks to its alliance with original publisher Cengage Learning.

open educational resources

California OER Efforts Get Funding Boost

The American Association of Colleges and Universities, Creative Commons and open education-focused nonprofit SPARC are working to advance the adoption of open educational resources in California and beyond, thanks to funding from the Michelson 20MM Foundation's Open Educational Resources initiative.

digital textbooks

Lumen Learning Partners with Howard U for Equitable Courseware

Lumen Learning has announced a partnership with Howard University's Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Assessment to help develop equity-centered learning solutions for a new statistics course and platform.

Lumen Learning Grant Challenges Applicants to Improve OER

Open education company Lumen Learning has introduced the Improve It Challenge, a new grant program inviting applicants to improve existing open educational resources for particularly difficult learning outcomes.

laptop and open book

6 Principles for Measuring the Cost Savings of OER

A new report from the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, a nonprofit regional organization devoted to advancing cooperation and resource sharing in higher education, advocates for more consistent approaches to determine the savings and benefits of adopting open educational resources.

Lumen Learning Initiative to Focus on Equity-Centered Courseware

Open education company Lumen Learning has announced a new initiative aimed at creating and implementing equitable course materials that will boost student success.

Faculty Usage of Digital Course Materials Falls Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

While many colleges and universities turned to digital course materials to serve the needs of remote learners during the pandemic, faculty usage of e-textbooks and other digital content has decreased now that classes have resumed in-person instruction, according to the latest "Faculty Watch" survey from the National Association of College Stores.