Connexions EPUBs now in iTunes U

We have made 18 of our most popular collections available as EPUBs in iTunes U. EPUB is a standard ebook format used by most ebook readers and smartphones. All of our content was made available as EPUBs earlier this year from our site. The 18 collections can be downloaded for free and easily added to iBooks. To find us in iTunes U, enter Connexions in the iTunes search box. Instructions for adding EPUBs to iBooks on your iPad or iPod are can be found in the cnx.org Help.

Enterprise Rhaptos 1.5 Released

We have released version 1.5 of our installable software, Enterprise Rhaptos. This release adds several new features that are already available in Connexions.

• Express Edit - If there is a published collection or module that you would like to edit from your Personal Workspace or a shared Workgroup, you can now quickly check out a copy directly from the content page itself.
• Enhanced Google Analytics - Google Analytics tracking was added to all download links.
• EPUB - Module and Collections can be downloaded as EPUB ebook files.
• Offline HTML - a zip file containing all information about a module or collection along with an HTML version that can be viewed offline. This is created as part of the EPUB generation.
• SWORD Interface - Modules can be created by sending a POST request to a URL along with a zip file containing a Word document and optional mets.xml metadata file.

See the Connexions Rhaptos Developer blog for more technical details.

Free to Learn Guide features Connexions and more

Connexions is featured as an OER resource in the new "Free to Learn Guide" by Hal Plotkin (US Department of Education).

Abstract: "Open Educational Resources (OER) offer higher education governance leaders a cost-efficient method of improving the quality of teaching and learning while at the same time reducing costs imposed on students related to the purchase of expensive commercial textbooks and learning materials. Leading scholars around the world are already participating in the OER movement even without support from most higher education institutions, including community colleges. Higher education governance officials, particularly boards of trustees and senior academic governance leaders, have a tremendous opportunity to harness the advantages of OER for their institutions."

Read about Connexions in the sections about learning objects, open textbooks, and quality control, as well as the summary of OER resources. The report describes many of the prominent projects and players of the OER movement, the history behind OER, and suggests policies and governance that will help realize the full potential of OER in higher education.