OpenStax: A Global Trailblazer in Open Education Resources and Learning Research

A professor in Poland, a school teacher in Nigeria, and a student in Vietnam all have something in common: they use OpenStax’s digital textbooks.

Motivated by rising textbook prices—1,000% over 50 years, Richard Baraniuk, C. Sidney Burrus Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and professor of statistics and computer science at Rice, set out to reimagine education 25 years ago. His bold vision has led to a global movement in open education.

Today, OpenStax—Rice’s nonprofit educational initiative—is the world’s largest publisher of free open education resources (OER), a provider of digital learning technologies, and a leader in education research. Its 80 college and high school textbooks—created and peer-reviewed by experts to align with global educational and cultural standards—are immensely popular among students and educators in the U.S. and globally.

Pioneering the Open Education Resources (OER) movement

In 1999, with support from Charles Sidney Burrus, former Rice Engineering dean, Don Johnson, former Rice Electrical and Computing Engineering department chair, and alumni advisors and trustees, Robert Maxfield and Bill Sick, Baraniuk founded Connexions, a digital repository that predated Wikipedia and MIT OpenCourseWare. Connexions produced 24,000 educational modules in 40 languages, laying the groundwork for a global OER movement and influencing global organizations such as UNESCO and regional projects in Vietnam and Poland.

To broaden adoption, Baraniuk launched OpenStax in 2012 to produce academically rigorous openly licensed digital textbooks. Since then, OpenStax has served more than 36 million students, saving them $2.9 billion in educational materials. This includes 4 million international students and 4,000 educators across 2,000 institutions in 153 countries.

Rice alumni, donors, and trustees have fueled its global growth. Brian Patterson ‘84 partnered with OpenStax to expand operations in Poland. The translated materials produced by OpenStax Polska are used by 530,000 students across 226 universities, half of the country’s undergraduates. Additionally, OpenStax has translated several college courses into Spanish and expanded to Peru through a partnership with the Universidad Tecnológica del Perú.

Sanket L., Student, Savitribai Phule Pune University, India

Sanket L., a student from a small town in India, discovered OpenStax’s free resources were the key to making his aspiration of studying at a prestigious university a reality. He sees OpenStax as a lifeline, providing more than just academic resources. It reignited his passion for physics while alleviating some of the financial pressure on his family. Sanket says, "OpenStax didn't just help me kickstart my career path; it opened a door to opportunities."

Critical challenges in OER

While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital learning, it also highlighted its challenges for some students, such as limited access to reliable technology and low bandwidth. OpenStax addresses these challenges with learning materials that can be adapted to diverse technological and socioeconomic environments.

Amos Tarfa, Math and Science Instructor, U.S. and Nigeria Amos discovered OpenStax early in his college career, and as an educator, continues to use OpenStax resources to help students bridge educational gaps, build skills, stay engaged, and reach their academic and career goals. With limited internet access in Nigeria, he distributes print and PDF copies of OpenStax courses. Amos stated, “I want to bring the same quality education I see in the U.S. to students who desperately need it here.” His work exemplifies how OpenStax has built solutions that transcend barriers to meet the needs of students in underserved communities.

Leveraging innovations in AI and human-centric research to transform education

Under Baraniuk’s leadership, OpenStax is strategically positioned to deepen its overall impact by leveraging AI-supported solutions to create personalized, culturally relevant course materials that are proven to be more effective.

Kien Pham, President, The Vietnam Foundation "In a world where displacement, migration and unequal infrastructure limit learning, this project brings educational content to learners—wherever they are—linguistically, technologically, and pedagogically. For example, Dr. Hung Tran used Vietnam Open Educational Resources to prepare for graduate studies in the U.S. He is now a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur leading a distributed 50-person team in Vietnam. His journey shows the ripple effect of access to quality education."

With a recent $90 million grant from the National Science Foundation—the largest investment in educational research infrastructure in the U.S.—OpenStax is leading a multi-institutional partnership to build SafeInsights, a large-scale secure digital platform for learning and education research. It is poised to transform how students and educators experience education.

“We are focused on removing barriers to education and cultivating a generation of learners who are engaged, resilient, and prepared to create positive change,” Baraniuk said. “Ultimately, our goal is to equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive and shape a more equitable society.”