Textbooks in Your Pocket: Free Interactive Books for Core Classes

SAN FRANCISCO AND PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology is advancing in leaps and bounds and mobile devices are changing the traditional textbook.  The 20 Million Minds Foundation (20MM), in partnership with Inkling, is excited to unveil the new, interactive digital versions of two free OpenStax College textbooks that students can access via the Inkling platform on iPad, iPhone, and the Web, with Android version coming soon.

"We are thrilled to sponsor the first-ever open textbooks with Inkling," said 20MM President and CEO Dean Florez.  "Inkling is a well-established platform with hundreds of titles from top publishers, and it was only fitting that titles from the leading open textbook publisher, OpenStax College, be included in Inkling's interactive digital library."

Inkling has proven itself a pioneer in the digital book market with innovative products and capabilities.  Inkling Habitat, a collaborative digital publishing environment, serves as a complementary tool to the open textbook movement by streamlining the creation of rich interactive content that can be added to open textbooks.  The resulting, augmented digital books are deeply enriched with social sharing functionality that allows students to share highlights and notes with peers who are also using the Inkling book.

Inkling's interactive versions of OpenStax College's titles Introduction to Sociology and College Physics feature embedded, interactive learning tools, adaptive quizzes, tutorials, and note-sharing features that are not available in the versions of the books that OpenStax College publishes free online.  Any notes, highlights, or additional information that a reader creates in the Inkling version of their book travels with them - automatically - no matter what device they use to access their Inkling book.

Thanks to the sponsorship from 20MM, Inkling's interactive versions of Introduction to Sociology and College Physics may be downloaded free by students and faculty.  In fact, Bill Simpson, professor of physics at American River College in California, will be the first to use Inkling's new, interactive version of College Physics with his Physics 350 class. 

"Inkling has become the standard for how learning content is built and read, and we're thrilled to work with the 20 Million Minds Foundation to include open educational resources from OpenStax College," said Inkling Founder and CEO Matt MacInnis. "Technology is changing learning at every level, and we're glad that the cutting-edge capabilities of Inkling are now available to the millions of students who use open textbooks."

"Open textbooks have gained a great deal of traction over the last year, and as more faculty adopt these digital books, we want to make sure we are providing top-tier products for our forward-thinking instructors, "said Florez.  "This is also an exciting opportunity to showcase the possibilities for California's landmark Open Textbook Digital Library legislation, which was signed into law last year."

About OpenStax College
OpenStax College is a nonprofit initiative of Rice University.  Visit www.OpenStaxCollege.org

About Inkling
Inkling is reimagining digital books by creating intuitive, interactive, and engaging books built for mobile and web.  World's leading publishers are building their best digital content on Inkling's cloud publishing platform - Inkling Habitat.  Based in San Francisco, Inkling is backed by Sequoia Capital, and partners with the world's leading publishers.  Visit www.Inkling.com.

About 20MM
The 20 Million Minds Foundation (20MM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing higher education into the digital age through public and private partnerships that increase access, affordability, and student success.  Visit www.20MM.org  Follow us @20MillionMinds.

CONTACT: Reid E. Milburn
Tel. (626) 396-7071
Cell (916) 969-6171
[email protected]

SOURCE The 20 Million Minds Foundation