Online Instruction Resources: Textbooks

• RedShelf and VitalSource: These major textbook providers have opened up free access for students until the end of term. Refer to their websites for details and to see if your texts are available.
   
• CENGAGE has created a Resource Page which will help you locate your Cengage representative to enable the following resources:
  • Free Access to CENGAGE Unlimited: Free access to their entire catalog of online learning platforms and eBooks through Cengage Unlimited, through end of term, to any student in any class at any US college that has been impacted by COVID-19.
  • Support Transition to Online: CENGAGE will complement that offering with services and resources to back up educators as they change the way they teach.
  • Free Access to eBooks through programs being offered by CENGAGE partners VitalSource and RedShelf. 
     
• Wiley: Instructors without an adopted online learning solution, such as WileyPLUS, Knewton Alta, or zyBooks, can receive free access for their students for the remainder of the Spring 2020 term. Instructors teaching at impacted institutions can request access to WileyPLUS or Knewton Alta or request access to zyBooks. Instructores who are already using WileyPLUS or Knewton Alta should contact Customer Success Specialists--who are equipped to provide additional support, including extension of due dates, adjusting assignments or increasing the capacity to work remotely. Wiley is also partnering with organizations, like VitalSource, to offer free etexts to students whose classes have move online.
   
• ProQuest has announced that its Ebook Central titles will have unlimited simultaneous users for over 50 of their included publishers until mid-June. Their full press release provides a list of the publishers.

Lumen Learning is offering to assist with the rapid transition faculty are making to online learning. Their courseware is designed to help students succeed in digital environments, and their catalog includes 50+ general education subjects. They are taking the following steps to help instructors get students through this term successfully:

• Making their courseware, Waymaker and OHM, available at no cost for courses currently in session. For faculty members seeking a well-designed digital alternative or a supplement to their current textbook, Lumen Learning courseware may be a good fit. Course set-up is simple, and faculty can be ready to teach the same day they make the change. Lumin Learning will also provide free services to support a successful transition (Learn More).
   
• To support professional development, Lumen Learning offers Resources: Teaching with Lumen Courseware, and is introducing a series of short videos about effective digital teaching and learning using Lumen courseware. They will be available at the Lumen blog, What's New with Lumen. Topics include:
  • Setting up your course in the LMS
  • Engaging students in virtual environments
  • Staying connected to students at a distance
  • Helping students become self-directed learners
     

Lumen’s Support Team is available to assist with any needs and answer questions for faculty, instructional designers, LMS administrators, and others working with faculty as they switch modalities using Lumen courseware. Contact them at support@lumenlearning.com or schedule an Office Hours appointment for live virtual support.

• George Mason OER Metafinder Search

  A one-stop searchbox for Open and Affordable Educational Resources.
• Open Textbook Library

  Peer-reviewed open textbooks from the University of Minnesota, Virginia Tech, and other public institutions.
• Merlot

  MERLOT is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community.
• OER Commons

  A repository of open educational resources representing a variety of disciplines.
• Google Search for Open Textbooks

  Conduct a Google search for topic and "open textbook". Use Google Advanced Search to filter by rights.
• Find OER Resources by Discipline

  Suggestions from Virginia Tech Libraries on finding OER resources by discipline.
• OpenStax College

  OpenStax College is a nonprofit organization committed to improving student access to quality learning materials. Free textbooks are developed and peer-reviewed by educators to ensure they are readable, accurate, and meet the scope and sequence requirements of your course.
• College Open Textbooks

  A collection of twenty-nine educational non-profit and for-profit organizations, affiliated with more than 200 colleges, focusing on the adoptions of open textbooks to more than 2000 community and other two-year colleges.
• OCW Consortium

  The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model.
• Creative Commons Open Education Resources Wiki
• OASIS

  Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS) is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from 57 different sources and contains 159,459 records. Developed and supported by SUNY (State University of New York).
• WAC Clearinghouse (Writing Across the Curriculum)

  The Clearinghouse publishes articles and books of interest to the writing-across-the-curriculum community,and provides a wide range of Web-based resources for instructors who wish to use writing in their courses.