Northwestern Celebrates Open Education Week Announcing Adoption of 50 Open Textbook

The University of Northwestern’s Online Learning Office announced the adoption of its 50th free and open textbook saving students $275,000 since the program began in 2015.

As one of the eight founding members of the Open Textbook Network, Northwestern has contributed to $8.5 million in students savings nationally. “The adoption of 50 open textbooks affirms that University of Northwestern is committed to reducing barriers to learning for our students and increasing pathways toward continuous improvement,’’ said Tanya Grosz, Dean of Graduate, Online & Adult Learning. 

Open textbooks help students relieve the financial burden of college by providing the resources they need to be successful at no cost. A growing number of higher educational institutions are adopting open textbooks for these reasons. 

The open, digital textbooks are written by faculty experts, peer-reviewed, and free to access, use, share, and download to electronic devices and affordable to print. Northwestern is excited to be the first college in Minnesota and the first faith-based institution in the country to offer a “Z-degree.” The Adult Undergraduate Business Management program uses open textbooks for all business courses, saving each student over $2,000. Northwestern hopes to continue to expand the number of free textbooks available to students.