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
