In this episode I talk with Anthony Palmiotto of OpenStax. The episode focuses on Open Educational Resources (OER). Open Educational Resources include open-source textbooks that are free to students and instructors. In the episode we talk about how OpenStax develops open-source textbooks, how different universities are utilizing open educational resources, the experts who contribute to open-source textbooks and comparing open educational resources to proprietary textbook publishers.

I want to thank the OpenStax organization for all their work. It is impactful to provide textbooks to students, instructors and schools that are struggling financially. I also want to thank all the experts that have contributed to open-source textbooks. If you are a student or instructor, please share this with your administration and hopefully we can get more free educational resources into the hands of people who need it. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the conversation!

For any instructors that want to contribute to OER here is the form to contact OpenStax admin: https://openstax.org/contact/

Open-Source Textbooks available from OpenStax: https://openstax.org/subjects

OpenStax Assignable: https://openstax.org/assignable

OpenStax for K-12 Teachers: https://openstax.org/k12

ARTICLES:

What are open educational resources (OER)? from OpenStax: https://openstax.org/blog/what-are-oer

UConn Leading State’s Open Textbook Initiative from UConn Today: https://today.uconn.edu/2016/02/uconn-leading-states-open-textbook-initiative/

About CC Licenses from creativecommons.org: https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/

Rubin Observatory basks in galactic glow from Space.com: https://www.space.com/astronomy/rubin-observatory-basks-in-galactic-glow-space-photo-of-the-day-for-nov-3-2025

OpenStax and Microsoft partner for AI-enhanced learning in the classroom: https://openstax.org/blog/press-release-openstax-and-microsoft-partner-for-ai-enhanced-learning-in-the-classroom

National survey shows higher education faculty embracing digital and open educational resources (OER) from Bay View Analytics: https://www.bayviewanalytics.com/oer.html

CONNECT:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-dolinay-frm-96a289106/

GitHub: https://github.com/ad17171717

X: https://twitter.com/DolinayG

Odysee: https://odysee.com/@adriandolinay:0

Medium: https://medium.com/@adriandolinay

PODCAST:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-aspiring-stem-geek/id1765996824

Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Aspiring-STEM-Geek/B0DC73S9SN?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/202676097/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/60dPNJbDPaPw7ru8g5btxV?si=26e034e416f446d8

|-Video Chapters-|

0:00 – Intro

2:11 – Defining Open Educational Resources (OER)

6:45 – The mission of OpenStax

12:32 – The process of creating a OER textbook

15:38 – Remixing OER Textbooks

20:17 – Creating Common Licenses used for the textbooks

21:49 – Adoption rates by colleges and universities

27:07 – Creating textbooks in different languages

32:12 – How OpenStax finds contributors for its textbooks

37:41 – The OER Landscape

40:43 – Cross promotion between OER providers

44:46 – Prestigious Contributors in OER

48:30 – Private sector contributions to OER

53:01 – Critiques of OER

58:48 – Open Source vs Proprietary

1:05:14 – What makes a student’s journey a success

1:06:28 – Why some instructors hesitate to adopt OER

1:09:50 – The tradeoff to adopting new material

1:13:00 – OpenStax and developing OER for new fields

1:16:00 – Anthony’s Journey into OER

1:19:43 – If you want to contribute to OER reach out!

1:21:55 – Conclusion