Our Focus


	Developing and Creating Open Educational Resources

	We believe in the vibrant creation of quality open textbooks. We believe that if put into a Web 2.0 platform these new open source textbooks can be just as effective or, in many cases, more effective than commercial textbooks. Why? Commercial textbooks are a one-size-fits-all proposition. Because learning objectives and outcomes differ from institution to institution based on the needs of the local communities, main faculty already have to adapt and remix commercial texts for the needs of the student populations, often in the form of additional, costly supplements or multiple books.

	We believe that open textbooks are more often than not supplanted (not supplemented) by openly licensed video, audio, images making the book and course even more engaging for the students. The real value to the authors of open texts is that they are not drawing on their own work alone, but they are getting access to a community of authors, revisers, practitioners, researchers and adapters — a community of scholarship that will support the work of the textbook.

	For this reason, the 20 Million Minds Foundation has worked to support efforts such as OpenStaxCollege.



	Using Rice’s Connexions platform, OpenStax will offer free course materials for five common introductory classes. The textbooks are open to classes anywhere, the goal is to save students $90 million in the next five years if the books can capture 10 percent of the national market. OpenStax is funded by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the 20 Million Minds Foundation and the Maxfield Foundation. Thus, soon, introductory physics texts will have a new competitor, developed at Rice University. A free online physics book, peer-reviewed and designed to compete with major publishers’ offerings, will debut next month through the nonprofit publisher OpenStax College.

	In the past, open-source materials failed to gain traction among some professors; their accuracy could be difficult to confirm because they hadn’t been peer-reviewed, and supplementary materials were often nonexistent or lacking because they weren’t organized for large-scale use.

	OpenStax believes it addressed those concerns with its new books, subjecting the texts to peer review and partnering with for-profit companies to offer supplementary materials for a cost.

	While open-source materials are nothing new, a series of free self-contained textbooks designed to compete head-to-head with major publishers. Instructors building a class with open-source materials must now assemble modules from several different places and verify each lesson’s usefulness and accuracy.

	The new open source textbooks in our OpenStaxCollege lineup will eliminate much of that work, which will make the free materials more palatable to professors who have been reluctant to adopt open-source lessons. In the next five years, our goal is to have quality free books for 20 of the most common college courses.

	OpenStax used its grant money to hire experts to develop each textbook and then had their work peer reviewed. The process has taken more than 18 months and will go live next month with sociology and physics books.

	Two introductory biology texts, one for majors and another for nonmajors, are slated to go online in the fall along with an anatomy and physiology book. Students and professors will be able to download PDF versions on their computers or access the information on a mobile device. Paper editions will be sold for the cost of printing. The 600-page, full-color sociology book is expected to sell for $30 for those who want a print version — those using digital content will pay nothing. Leading introductory sociology texts routinely cost between $60 and $120 new.


	Bridging the policy, non-profit and for-profit worlds

	At 20MM we work across sectors, bridging the policy, non-profit, and for-profit worlds. We believe in fostering relationships with innovative for-profit affiliates to help leverage technology resources that provide greater access to higher education opportunities.

	The Foundation's New Initiative: Collaborative Statistics, a terrific, newly enhanced, open source and completely FREE statistics textbook from one of our very own California community colleges, now accessible to all faculty and students. http://www.kno.com/book/details/productId/txt9780983804905

	Collaborative Statistics is a completely FREE, fully interactive, enhanced digital edition, complete with note-taking, social learning, and multimedia assets.

	Collaborative Statistics is supported by a collection of supplemental materials—including a teacher’s guide, online videos, optional integration with WebAssign, and a community of participating faculty.

	"Introduction to Statistics" is a core course across all three of California's public university systems, with 123, 000 students enrolling in an "Intro to Statis" course every year and spending between $10 and $12 million on textbooks for this one course.

	Collaborative Statistics, one of the nation’s most successful free and open-license textbooks, will produce million of dollars in savings for students.


	Advocacy

	Led by former California Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, the foundation recognizes the tremendous value of advocacy.


	Focusing on the Adoption Gap: Faculty Support is Key

	At 20 Million Minds, we value and encourage faculty participation, as the true experts, their input helps ensure the success of open educational resources. The opportunity for mass impact relies on wide faculty adoption.

	We are currently reaching out to faculty to join our “Working Group on Digital Innovation in Higher Education.” We offer to support their transition to digitally enhanced e-books through a variety of means, including training workshops. (Insert pop up of letter)

“Working Group on Digital Innovation in Higher Education”: A Call to All Statistics Faculty

	We as educators have an opportunity to eliminate one of the last remaining hurdles controlling student access and success. The 20 Million Minds Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to significantly reducing textbook costs, leverages leading edge technologies to create more affordable, engaging, and effective educational materials for California’s community college students. We are currently reaching out to faculty to join our “Working Group on Digital Innovation in Higher Education.”

	We hope to change the unfortunate reality that each year, 200,000 qualified students are unable to initially enroll in U.S. colleges due to prohibitive costs. [1] Ultimately, one in four students fails to complete his/her postsecondary education; and among those students, 60% cite the cost of “textbooks and fees beyond tuition” as a factor in their decision to withdraw; 36% consider those costs a “major” factor that significantly contributed to their outcome. [2] Many courses require students to purchase textbooks that cost over $200 per title, and students today spend an average of over $1000 on required course materials each academic year. [3] For the 1.2 million community college students in California, textbook costs represent as much as 72% of total educational expenditures. [4]

	20 Million Minds has collaborated with Kno, a leading Silicon Valley technology firm, to transform Collaborative Statistics—one of the nation’s most successful free and open-licensed textbooks already used by more than 50 faculty—into a fully interactive, enhanced digital edition complete with note-taking, social learning, and multimedia assets. At present, Collaborative Statistics has over 15 years in circulation, is accepted within both UC and CSU articulation agreements, is used in many prestigious private and public national universities, and was selected within the California Learning Resource Network as a text for California public schools’ AP and regular statistics courses. Though initially a for-profit, hard-copy text, it is now available at no cost and is supported by a free collection of supplemental materials—including a teacher’s guide, online videos, optional integration with WebAssign, and a community of participating faculty. This enhanced digital version will not affect the availability of the corresponding free version that is, and will remain, accessible to students at zero cost. Considering that in California Community Colleges alone, students spend over $10 million annually on statistics textbooks at a unit of $47-200+ each, the enhanced digital version will boost the ability of Collaborative Statistics to save students millions of dollars.

	We are seeking additional instructors to use this enhanced digital version during the 2011-2012 academic year. Through our Spring 2012 pilot program, faculty can elect to receive either a development grant of $500 or a free hard copy of the text for each of their students. The host institution would then retain all copies of the text for use in future terms. Additionally, during the semester, 20MM would provide professional support groups and training to facilitate use of the fully-online version. It is our firm belief that the success of this pilot project will demonstrate that an affordable, open-licensed textbook can outperform $200+ commercial textbooks at no cost to struggling students. If you are interested, please contact mayra@20mm.org.



	[1] Dick Durbin, “Open College Textbook Act of 2009, S. 1714,” September 24, 2009, Section 2 Findings, 5.
	[2] Jean Johnson and Jon Rochkind, “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them: A Public Agenda Report for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,”7.
	[3] U.S. Government Accountability Office, “College Textbooks: Enhanced Offerings Appear to Drive Recent Price Increases,” 2005, 2.
	[4] Ibid. 2.