Connexions e-books available on iTunes U

CONTACT: Jade Boyd
PHONE: 713-348-6778
EMAIL: jadeboyd@rice.edu

Connexions e-books available on iTunes U
Popular textbooks from Rice University’s Connexions available free on iTunes U

Rice University’s open education initiative, Connexions (http://cnx.org), has made 18 of the most popular titles in its library of free textbooks and open education materials available as free downloads on iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store (www.iTunes.com).

“The demand for free, high-quality educational texts and teaching materials is greater than ever, and people increasingly want to access that material on mobile devices,” said Joel Thierstein, executive director of Connexions.

Based at Rice, Connexions is one of the world’s leading providers of free, open educational materials. With more than 2 million visits per month, its repository is also one of the world’s most-used open education resources. The repository contains more than 17,000 educational modules that are grouped into more than 1,000 collections. Many of Connexions’ collections were compiled by university faculty and are already used as textbooks, either by students who access them online for free or print them at low cost.

Connexions made its entire catalog available in the popular EPUB file format in August. EPUB is the standard e-book format for most smart phones and e-readers.

The titles made available by Connexions today include:

Advanced Algebra II, by Raleigh, N.C., school teacher Kenny Felder, one of the most highly rated digital textbooks in the 2009 inaugural launch of California’s Digital Textbook Initiative.

Collaborative Statistics, by De Anza Community College mathematicians Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean, is a comprehensive textbook for introductory statistics, one of the most-attended transfer-level community college courses in the nation.

Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering I, by Rice University Professor Don Johnson, whose elegant work covers the introduction to electrical engineering.  

Understanding Basic Music Theory, by Illinois music teacher Catherine Schmidt-Jones, whose Connexions lessons have been accessed by millions worldwide.

Programming Fundamentals — A Modular Structured Approach using C++, a comprehensive introductory text for computer programming by Houston Community College Professor Ken Busbee.

In Connexions, anyone can contribute, remix and reuse or learn. Visit Connexions at http://cnx.org.