Gates and Melinda foundation free college textbooks

[yb1]

https://openstaxcollege.org/

Saw a headline, haven't looked through the site just yet. Looks promising though will check out when I get off work. Thought yall might be interested

[Prloko]

What a great and promising resource. I'm surprised no one else has commented. Bumping for exposure.

[dfrecore]

None of the Big 3 are doing this, although with TECEP's, none of the books are new and expensive - I've been able to find most used for less than $5.

I just took a community college course and the class was $155 but the book was $375 new! I bought the "international version" for $21 (soft cover rather than hardback, cheaper paper, cheaper ink, worked just fine though). Then, I took it to class to compare it with the regular textbook, and found that it contained the exact same information but in different chapter order. I just put sticky-notes on each chapter with the corrected chapter number.

[clep3705]

Twenty years ago a professor rolled in a video projector, much better than I expected the very cheap university to have. He explained that the textbook's publisher paid for it as part of a promotion based on how many copies of the publisher's books were sold at the school. That reminds me of how drug companies would pay for "medical training" vacation junkets to encourage doctors to push their pills. That has been largely outlawed. Maybe we need similar legislation for textbook publishers.

[LaterBloomer]

Textbooks are a scam. Just when the Internet started to help us keep prices down (we each sold to each other), companies have now come up with a number to access electronic labs. For my accounting course, I paid over $300 for the book. It included a number so I could use a lab. (The Pearson's lab. NOT user friendly. They want students to advise them about the site. Excuse me? That would make me a consultant. How much will you be paying me?) Should I want to sell my book, and if the buyer needs access to the lab, s/he will have to pony up $150 for a new access card.

It's a racket. I hope that the concept of openstax is used by more colleges. Once someone comes up with a clear text book, why reinvent the wheel. Many courses don't change that much from year to year.

[cookderosa]

What a great and promising resource. I'm surprised no one else has commented. Bumping for exposure.

Saylor posted it on their FB page yesterday morning, so I think it made the rounds yesterday. I know I posted it yesterday too. Saylor wrote me a note that they're using these in more courses now, especially their credit-option courses. Very promising for sure!

[Life Long Learning]

That is neat! Thanks for sharing.

[BELLA]

Textbooks are a scam. Just when the Internet started to help us keep prices down (we each sold to each other), companies have now come up with a number to access electronic labs. For my accounting course, I paid over $300 for the book. It included a number so I could use a lab. (The Pearson's lab. NOT user friendly. They want students to advise them about the site. Excuse me? That would make me a consultant. How much will you be paying me?) Should I want to sell my book, and if the buyer needs access to the lab, s/he will have to pony up $150 for a new access card.

It's a racket. I hope that the concept of openstax is used by more colleges. Once someone comes up with a clear text book, why reinvent the wheel. Many courses don't change that much from year to year.

Everything is being converted to a profit margin.

Interesting
Millennials may not be able to send their children to college | USA TODAY College

[JTP]

I may download the physics textbook, just to skim through when I'm bored.

Thanks for the post!!

[LaterBloomer]

"...physics textbook, just to skim through when I'm bored."? People say it's not right to judge, but that's just weird. Now, if you said you'd downloaded a dictionary...