Physics for all. The free textbook has gained recognition at Polish universities
A new free academic textbook for general physics published in Polish has gained recognition at Polish universities. Available online since the beginning of the current academic year, “Physics for Colleges” from the prestigious U.S. OpenStax series has become an official main or supporting textbook at 21 universities in the country.
„Physics for szkoł higher” is a Polish adaptation of a modern textbook „University Physics” developed by OpenStax, a nonprofit foundation based at Rice University in Houston, US. The three-volume publication can be downloaded for free as a PDF file and used online.
The U.S.-based OpenStax Foundation is releasing free textbooks to lower tuition costs for students and make it easier for them to access high-quality resourcesoin educational. Since 2012, OpenStax has already published 29 comprehensive textbooks in EnglishoIn academia, with whichorych have benefited more than 6 millionow studentow around the world. All titles are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4 open license.0 (CC BY 4.0).
The publisher of the Polish publication is OpenStax Poland, a nonprofit foundation. – We are the first organization in the world thatora has initiated and implemented the adaptation of the OpenStax textbook for the non-English-speaking market – mowi Christopher Sweeney, president of the OpenStax Poland Foundation. – We publish the textbooks on the so-called. open license. It provides the right not only to use, download and copy for free, but also to make our own modifications to the poszczegolnych modulesoin books without having to log in or make any payment – Sweeney adds.
– „Physics for Schoolohigher” is a thoughtful whole, was developed by a team ofo³ expertow and didacticianoin physics. However, if the lecturer would like to present his students with an individual approach to the subject omoinvolved in the publication, and can adapt any parts of the book to suit its needs. The license fully permits this, the only requirement is to cite the source of theodło – highlights Sweeney.
In preparing the Polish version of the publication, the OpenStax Poland Foundation established a partnership withoł partnership cooperation with 7 Polish universities, m.in. with the Academy of Gorniczo-Hutnicza University of Technology, Gdansk University of Technology, Wroclaw University of Technology. More than 50 employees participated in the adaptationoin didactic and scientific. This resulted not only in a high level of translation, but also in the adaptation of the textbook content to the Polish course of study. – We get positive reviews from the academic community. Already 21 universities have officially adopted „Physics for schoł higher” to syllabusow. Someore of them, such as the Military University of Technology in Warsaw, pointed it out to students as the mainoThe university’s current physics textbook – mowi Paulina Szczucińska, project manageroin OpenStax Poland.
Lecturers already using the publication emphasize that its advantages include the ability to freely adapt the content to the curriculum and specific teaching needs, a clear structure, a descriptive way ofob conduct of the subject, accessible language, and practical application of the concepts introduced. – Students assimilate knowledge better when it is conveyed in relation to realiaow. The textbook published by OpenStax Poland is a detailedolnie student-friendly, as it contains mnoexampleoin everyday life – mowi Dr. Eng. Radosław Strzałka of AGH, whoory in classes with students uses „Physics for schoolsoł higher”.
In the current academic year with the textbookoThe textbooks made available by OpenStax are taught to students from more than 4,000. universities around the world. In the United States alone, almost every second of the schoolsoł higher education uses at least one of 29 titlesoin OpenStax. This year alone, the savings of American studentsow resulting from the use of free textbooksoin the foundation will amount to as much as 177 millionoin the dollarow.
At Polish universities, free textbooks under an open license are still a novelty. – We are convinced that openness is the future of education. Our goal is to reach out with information about the textbook „Physics for schoolsohigher education” to all studentsoin Poland, whichowho have physics classes, and to ambitious high school graduatesow. By publishing free textbooks under an open license, we not only help young people financially, but also help prevent the illegal circulation of copies of textbooksoin commercial. We also take care to spread access to valuable and verified content on the Internet. We are pleased to see the growing interest in our initiative from the entire academic community – concludes Szczucińska.
The OpenStax Poland Foundation this fall spun off from Katalyst Education, a nonprofit foundation, an incubator of projectow aimed at making the textbookoequalizing educational opportunities in Poland.
Links to the free textbook „Physics for schoł”: