From Rice University:
OpenStax, Rice’s educational technology initiative, is vastly expanding its library of free textbooks, working toward a goal of ensuring that no student ever has to worry about textbook costs again. This work is possible as a result of new grants totaling $12.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation and the Stand Together community.
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Demand for OpenStax and other open educational resources has increased dramatically over the past decade and it has soared since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instructors needed free, high-quality and flexible educational materials that all of their students could access when they moved online in the spring. Since schools started remote instruction in March, OpenStax has seen a 217% increase in use of its materials over the same period last year.
OpenStax aims to raise $30 million for the library expansion. The initial grants represent an important first step in future fundraising efforts.
Read the Complete Announcement