FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Camie Rodan
The Saylor Foundation
p. 202-333-4005
f. 202-333-4009
e. [email protected]
November 15, 2011
Saylor Foundation Announces Wave II of the Multi-Million Dollar Open Textbook
Challenge
Open Education Non-Profit Offers $20,000 to College Textbook Authors Willing to License Texts Under CC-BY
Washington, D.C. – The Saylor Foundation (http://www.saylor.org) announced today that it has launched Wave II of its
multi-million dollar Open Textbook Challenge (OTC). With this recurring Challenge, the Foundation aims to complement
and expand upon the 200+ free, college-level courses it offers via Saylor.org.
“According to the Commonwealth of Learning’s Sir John Daniel, 158 million individuals are enrolled in secondary
education today, a number that’s expected to rise to 263 million by 2025,” said Alana Harrington, Director of the Saylor
Foundation. “To accommodate this demand, Sir Daniel has projected that four major universities would need to be
established each week over the next fifteen years. Today, higher education institutes are already unable to realize the
funding needed to serve this high level of demand. For example, in California, budget cuts to the state’s education system
coupled with rising tuition costs recently resulted in a barrier to education for hundreds of thousands of college students.”
By compiling college-level courseware that is freely available to anyone with Internet access, the Saylor Foundation
provides an option for those individuals who seek a higher education, yet face monetary or geographical barriers. The
OTC is one of the Saylor Foundation’s efforts to diminish this accessibility gap by addressing the challenge of rising
textbook costs.
Through the OTC, the Foundation is offering $20,000 to each college textbook author who agrees to openly license his or
her work under a CC BY 3.0 license. Submitted texts that pass the Foundation’s peer review process and align with one of
the eligible courses on Saylor.org will be entitled to the $20,000 prize, and will be made freely available via Saylor.org.
The announcement of Wave II funding for the OTC comes just weeks after the closing date for Wave I submissions.
“We’re excited about the submissions we received during Wave I of the Open Textbook Challenge,” said Charlie Adair,
Open Textbook Challenge Coordinator for the Saylor Foundation. “With each accepted text, the Saylor Foundation and
inspired textbook authors are able to provide access to a complete textbook for individuals who are otherwise unable to
obtain these college-level course materials.”
Providing college-level resources to those who are underserved is a priority for a number of organizations in the growing
field of Open Educational Resources (OER). “The OER community has been fantastic in supporting our efforts with the
OTC,” said Harrington. “For example, with the Hewlett Foundation showing full support as a strategic adviser of the
Challenge, we hope to expand our reach to include even more educators during Wave II and ultimately provide a greater
impact for knowledge-hungry students.”
Textbooks can be submitted via the OTC webpage through January 31, 2012: accepted texts will be announced by May
31, 2012.
About the Saylor Foundation
The Saylor Foundation (under its legal name, The Constitution Foundation) is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization
headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Foundation was established in 1999 by Michael J. Saylor, the Chairman, CEO and
President of the business intelligence company MicroStrategy. Mr. Saylor serves as the Foundation's sole trustee.
The Foundation's focus since 2008 has been its Free Education Initiative, through which it is using technology to drive
down the cost of education to zero. Saylor.org serves as a zero-cost alternative for individuals who lack the resources to
attend traditional brick-and-mortar institutions and as a complement to willing mainstream education providers. Saylor
expects free, self-paced, automated online learning opportunities to motivate people to pursue personal growth and career
ambitions as well as to lead to institutional change among education providers everywhere.
More information about the Saylor Foundation is available at www.saylor.org.
###