Examining the Reuse of Open Textbooks

Abstract

An important element of open educational resources (OER) is the permission to use the materials in new ways, including revising and remixing them. Prior research has shown that the revision and remix rates for OER are relatively low. In this study we examined the extent to which the openly licensed Flat World Knowledge textbooks were being revised and remixed. We found that the levels of revision and remix were similar to those of other OER collections. We discuss the possible significance and implication of these findings.

Keywords:

• Open educational resources,
• remix,
• reuse,
• open textbooks,
• electronic textbooks,
• Flat World Knowledge,
• open access