Bill > HB1777

This bill establishes the Virginia Open Education Resources Council and the Virginia Digital Open Source Textbook Library to make higher education more affordable for students. A "digital open source textbook" is defined as a digital, modular textbook in a format like XML, accessible on various devices, and licensed under a Creative Commons attribution license, meaning it can be freely used, shared, and adapted with credit to the author, while also meeting federal accessibility standards for individuals with disabilities. The Council will be composed of one faculty member from each of Virginia's public colleges and universities, serving four-year terms, and will be staffed by these faculty members. By the 2015-2016 academic year, the Council is tasked with identifying 50 undergraduate courses, prioritizing those with high enrollment, potential for student savings, consistent content, and opportunities for faculty to add their own materials, for which high-quality, affordable digital open source textbooks will be acquired. The Council will also create a process to review and approve these textbooks, ensuring they meet accessibility requirements and providing documentation for students with disabilities, and will solicit input from students. The acquired textbooks will be stored in the Virginia Digital Open Source Textbook Library, an online archive, and will be available to students free of charge, though faculty will not be mandated to use them.