Free Access to E-Books and 'OER's at the Open University of Israel Yachin Epstein Center for Integrating Technology in Distance Education The Open University of Israel

The Open University of Israel (OUI) Established 1974, based on the OU-UK model Distance learning (ODL) 45,000 Registered students in Israel & abroad (largest) ~ 600 Courses, Undergraduate and Masters (no PhD) 2,500 Graduates each year (2007) Heavy reliance on Educational Technology (Hebrew based LMS) Largest academic publisher in Israel (prints 1 M copies annually)

In May 2008 the OUI joined the OCW movement and the OCW consortium. Free Textbooks in Electronic format (e-books) This is a unique feature never tried by any university. Free Audio books in MP3 format (free for download or as streaming media) Free Video lectures by experts Free Online Study materials: RLO (Reusable Learning Objects) lesson plans, presentations, interactive exercises, glossaries and more The OUI in the global OCW movement

E-Book

Online study materials 126 OCW course (25% of all courses) 5628 Learning Objects: ~80 Video lectures 170 multiple-choice questions ~ 1300 recommended links 16 glossary with 3500 terms Recorded tutorials Interactive multimedia materials and more Video lectures Some of the books include video lectures by the authors or experts in the field, filmed at the OUI video studios.

Table of content Textbooks in electronic format Free access to Hebrew books from 50 academic courses (~200 volumes), some in Russian and Arabic. Open University books are especially designed for independent study. Books were selected by an academic steering committee. Some books are under Creative Commons (CC) copy right license. Jewish Identities in an Era of Multiple Modernities

Personal and public annotation Textbooks in electronic format Readers can browse through the book, search share, bookmark and add personal and public comments to the books. Each time the users return to the book, they get their “own” copy.

Audio books Users can listen to them through the Internet or download on mobile players. Audio books were narrated by professional narrators and recorded at the OUI's audio studios. Instructional Design and Evaluation of Computer Environments

Users and Usage : Data collection from first 8 months Research toolsQuestions Data from 9700 Registered User statistics User characteristics: Who are the users? User behavior: What do the users do on the website? User survey (900 responses)User feedback: What is the use of preferences?

User characteristics 9700 Registered Users

User characteristics Registered Users

User behavior on website Average per month: Different visitors -7,625 January-February - 11,116 New visits - 65%, repeat visits -35% Average visits per day – 350 (600 on MIT) January-February Time on site - 00:03:30 (00:13:15 on e-books)

Different visitors per month User behavior on website New/Repeat visits

User feedback

PE’ER Next Phase Constant addition of books and learning materials Portable electronic books (Kindle)

Yachin Epstein Center for Integrating Technology in Distance Education