CSU Interactive OpenStax Books Lower Cost Option

The CSU AL$ initiative is excited to announce the first titles in a series of interactive open textbooks in partnership with Openstax™ and VitalSource®. These open textbooks were created by Openstax™ and peer reviewed by faculty and meet standard scope and textbook sequencing requirements. To search for or learn more about CSU Interactive Textbooks you may create an account in VitalSource This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.. Once you have created an account you may search using the ISBN #'s below or by searching for CSU Interactive OpenStax Textbook as keywords.


Available Titles - CSU Interactive OpenStax Books

  • American Government, 978-1-949306-06-4, Edition 1st*
  • Anatomy and Physiology, 978-1-949306-01-9, Edition 1st
  • Biology, 978-1-949306-02-6, Edition 1st*
  • Chemistry, 978-1-949306-04-0, Edition 1st*
  • College Physics, 978-1-949306-05-7, Edition 1st
  • Concepts of Biology, 978-1-949306-03-3, Edition 1st
  • Introductory Statistics, 978-1-949306-00-2, Edition 1st
  • Principles of Macroeconomics, 978-1-949306-07-1 Edition 2nd
  • Principles of Microeconomics, 978-1-949306-08-8, Edition 2nd
  • Psychology, 978-1-949306-10-1, Edition 1st
  • Sociology, 978-1-949306-11-8, Edition 2nd
  • U.S. History, 978-1-949306-09-5, Edition 1st

* 2nd Edition available in original digital and print formats, currently not available in CSU Interactive format.

Students can easily highlight and take notes within their digital texts. They can look up keywords with a simple click and quickly check their understanding of the material at the end of each chapter.

“Especially when equipped with a feature of personalization, computer-assisted learning can be quite effective in helping students learn, particularly with math,” (Campus Technology, Sep. 2017 This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.).

If you have an adoption or would like to adopt an Openstax title not currently available as a CSU Interactive Textbook, please let us know Cool4ed@calstate.edu.


What is an Interactive Open Textbook?

An interactive open textbook utilizes the proven VitalSource eTextbook platform to enhance the traditional Openstax open ebook experience for both faculty and students. This enhanced open textbook experience offers students the high-quality learning content they’ve come to expect from Openstax, combined with much of the same functionality as other proprietary eReader platforms such as highlighting, note-taking, and ADA accessibility.


Why Use It?

Students

  • Highlight and review text easily
  • Share notes with peers
  • End of chapter quizzes embedded into the text
  • Easy access to text from mobile devices
  • Easy access from within LMS
  • Interactive vocabulary links embedded into text
  • Completely accessible for student users with disabilities
  • Compatible with many publisher proprietary eReader platforms

Faculty

  • Track student engagement trends with the text with the instructor dashboard to help tailor instructional plans to meet their needs
  • Identify students who may be falling behind
  • Learn what students find most relevant or most challenging
  • Review when students are reading and on which devices
  • Monitor assigned readings and who read before class
  • Direct integration/linking into the LMS

How to Get Access?

Are you interested in offering the AL$ Interactive Open Textbook to your students? Select the distribution option that works best for you. Please note that there will be a minimal cost for students to access the platform. Contact your campus bookstore to learn more!

  1. Adopt through your campus bookstore’s proprietary eReader platform (Vitalsource’s Bookshelf This link will take you to an external website in a new tab., Barnes & Noble’s Yuzu This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.)
  2. Direct, immediate access through your campus LMS platform
  3. Direct access through VitalSource Technologies Additional Resource for Bookstores