eTextbook Initiative Saves Students More Than $118,000

Bruin Notes

More than 600 George Fox students reaped a very tangible benefit from the university鈥檚 new : cash. A total of $118,885, to be exact. That鈥檚 what these students would have paid if they purchased new textbooks rather than the free eBooks now offered in their place.

Supported by the university鈥檚 Innovation Fund, the initiative allowed George Fox to join the聽Open Textbook Network, which curates a collection of quality, peer-reviewed, open textbooks published under a Creative Commons license. Stipends offered by the university encourage faculty to incorporate the free textbooks into their syllabi, and also to review and author their own open textbooks.

A total of 13 courses adopted open textbooks during the 2016-17 academic year, benefiting 611 students, including a single General Chemistry course that saved 184 students a total of $47,840. The initiative has already received funding for a second year, with plans to adopt even more open textbooks into current curriculums.