Open access textbooks and financial sustainability: A case study on Flat World Knowledge

Abstract

Many college students and their families are concerned about the high costs of textbooks. A company called Flat World Knowledge both gives away and sells open-source textbooks in a way it believes to be financially sustainable. This article reports on the financial sustainability of the Flat World Knowledge open-source textbook model after one year of operation.

Keywords

• Open educational resources
• open textbooks
• electronic textbooks
• Flat World Knowledge
• open access
• sustainability