Textbook Affordability Program

MacEwan Open Books is an open textbook hosting service available to faculty and staff interested in developing online, interactive open textbooks.

If you are interested in creating an open textbook, review the Terms of Use for this service, and fill out the MacEwan Open Books Request Form.

Open textbooks are free to use, share, and modify under Creative Commons licenses.

Explore Open Textbook Directories

• OpenStax
  An established open textbook provider based out of Rice University.
• Open Textbook Library
  Extensive database of open textbooks supported by the University of Minnesota.
• Pressbooks Directory
  A curated collection of open textbooks using Pressbooks software.

Explore Canadian Open Textbook Collections

• B.C. Open Collection by BCCampus
  BC's Open Textbook Collection covering a variety of subjects and specialties.
• eCampus Ontario
  Open Library Ontario's curated collection of open textbooks for post-secondary courses.
• MacEwan Open Books
  MacEwan University’s Open Textbook catalog.
• Open Education Alberta
  Open textbooks hosted by the University of Alberta.

Explore Open Instructional Materials

• OERCommons
  A public digital library of OER including assignments, lecture materials, and assessment tools.
• MERLOT
  Access to curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools.
• Open Case Studies at UBC
  An interdisciplinary, open educational resource with case studies.

Visit the Library’s Copyright-Friendly Sources guide to explore a wide variety of additional public domain and openly licensed resources.

For help exploring lower cost options, visit our Textbook Alternative Service.

Assign Library Resources

• Online resources in the MacEwan Library collection can be assigned to students by simply providing them with a link to this content. Contact collections@macewan.ca to ensure availability. Visit Linking to Online Resources to ensure students can access these resources when off-campus.
• Physical resources in the library collection can be placed on reserve for short-term loan at the Library Services desk in John L. Haar Library. Visit Items on Physical Reserve to learn more.

Course Resource Lists in mêskanâs: instructors can list course materials from the library's collection, as well as free online resources, in mêskanâs for students to access. Library staff are available to help with this. Visit Course Outline Service to learn more.

Keep Using Older Editions: only switch to a new edition of a textbook if the content is outdated or the edition becomes unavailable from publishers. This gives students more opportunities to buy used copies and sell them when they are no longer needed.

Pay close attention to tariffs and exchange rates on international textbooks. In some cases, these fees can turn an affordable textbook into an extremely expensive one.

• For support calculating fees, contact bookstore@macewan.ca.
• For assistance finding Canadian textbook titles, reach out to your Subject Librarians.

Involving students in creating, adapting, or expanding upon open textbook content enhances their research, writing, and peer-review skills. This collaborative "open pedagogy" approach also provides valuable learning resources for future students.

If you are interested in creating open textbooks with your students, contact digitalscholarship@macewan.ca and keep an eye out for future workshops on creating open textbooks with students offered by the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

To learn more about this approach, check out A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students by Elizabeth Mays (ed.).

Affordability & Accessibility

• Select and take courses without the financial stress of costly textbooks.
• Access all your course materials easily, from anywhere, when your instructors switch to freely available online content.

Enhanced Learning

• Improve your academic success with all the course materials you need from day one to finals.
• Collaborate with your instructors to develop new, free online course resources that support learning and research.

Share Your Voice

• Talk to your professors about textbook affordability options.  
• Become a textbook affordability advocate:
  • #ABTextbookBroke social media campaigns
  • The BC Campus Open Education: OER Student Toolkit

This section includes content adapted from BC Campus Open Education OER Student Toolkit by Daniel Munro, Jenna Omassi, and Brady Yano, shared under a CC BY 4.0 licence

Teaching

• Improve student access to assigned resources in a variety of formats.
• Include more diverse voices.
• Develop new opportunities for student engagement.
• Incorporate more flexibility to regularly update content.

Research

• Publish an original open textbook.
• Adapt an existing open textbook.
• Do research on the impact of open and affordable textbook options.
• Write and receive grants for open textbook projects.

Service

• Provide peer-review for new or existing open textbooks.
• Participate in or lead initiatives to provide new and improved options for students.
• Mentor others developing and redeveloping courses with open and affordable options.

Learn more

• The MacEwan Copyright Policy encourages the creation and use of open access and open educational resources.
• The MacEwan faculty member Collective Agreement includes the development of open educational resources as evidence that can demonstrate the scope, quality and impact of a faculty member’s scholarly activity.

This section includes content adapted from Open Education in Promotion, Tenure, and Faculty Development, shared under a CC BY 4.0 license