LibreTexts May 2025 Newsletter

LibreTexts News & Updates | May 2025  

Academy Online Launches First Free Courses

We are excited to announce LibreTexts Academy Online has launched its first free courses. Part of our larger Academy Center for Open Instructional Innovation and Professional Development, Academy Online offers a number of professional development opportunities to help grow your open education programs, develop ZTC pathways, and curate OER. First up is a series of free, asynchronous courses designed to introduce you to your new favorite all-in-one open education toolbox, including an Introduction to LibreTexts: Into the LibreVerse. If you're looking for the perfect way to get started with LibreTexts, this course is for you. Also available now: LibreTexts for Students, designed to help your students get the most out of their OER, and short introduction to our open homework and assessment platform, ADAPT. 

You can find all of our Academy Online courses on our website, and be sure to keep checking back for new content: https://libretexts.org/academy/online.

Date Set for LibreTexts Annual LibreFest 

Mark your calendars for this year's annual LibreFest workshop, to be held virtually the week of July 7-11, 2025.

This virtual workshop will provide four and a half days of teaching and working sessions covering: how to create Open Education Resources (OER); how to edit/modify existing OER to build textbooks and other learning resources; how to use our Conductor project management platform with our new Workbench; and our ADAPT open homework and assessment system. We will also hear Success Stories from LibreTexts super users each day.

Sessions will begin at 9:00 am PST on Monday, July 7. Office hours will be held every day from 8:00 – 9:00 am. There will be time for questions and reflections at the close of each day's sessions from 3:00 – 4:00 pm.

If you do not already have a LibreTexts account, you will be prompted to create one during the LibreFest Registration process: https://commons.libretexts.org/events/chh3LwwtKr.

The LibreFest Registration fee for this workshop is $50. Please use the payment link at the end of the LibreFest Registration form to pay. Fee waivers are available for current LibreNet members. Please email Jennifer Rogers, Director of Outreach, Engagement, and Development for the fee waiver code: [email protected].

The LibreFest Registration will close no later than July 5, 2025. However, capacity is limited, so the registration may close sooner.

Register today: https://commons.libretexts.org/events/chh3LwwtKr.

Noteworthy 

Since our start in 2008, the LibreTexts team has facilitated faculty collaborations across the country, helping instructors work together on building new course content while making powerful connections across institutions and disciplines. Making it easier for our community to work together and build their own communities starts here! Currently we have faculty looking to work on the following projects over the next year: 

-- Introduction to Special Education for K-12 Classrooms - especially on describing how to implement best-practices in the classroom (textbook)

-- Organic Chemistry Structure-based Question Writing (using ADAPT Sketcher)

-- Voice and Video thread-based question writing for language courses (ADAPT Discuss-It)

If you are interested in any of these projects, or would you like us to look for collaborators for another OER Project, let us know by filling out our LibreTexts Academy Connections form: https://forms.gle/vAsRyJ1QzAKw1FUr5. 

Is your institution part of our LibreNet consortium? If not, consider joining and become part of a growing community of OER practitioners and advocates unlike any other. More information about the numerous benefits of LibreNet membership can be found on our website. Note the cost of membership will increase to $2500 on July 1, 2025 and will include access to asynchronous training content through LibreTexts Academy Online for two LibreNet admins.

Have you heard about our new professional development opportunities through LibreTexts Academy? From year long cohorts to asynchronous webinars, Academy has something for all of the OER advocates and practitioners in your life. Head over to our website and fill out an interest form to get started. 

Don't forget about our First Friday Features held virtually the first Friday of each month. Join a member of our team at 11:30 am PST to hear all about what's new in the LibreVerse and what's coming soon.. You can catch us on our regular Zoom channel: https://zoom.libretexts.org.

Be sure to follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on the latest LibreTexts news and events and share how you're using our resources to further your own open efforts. You can find us as @LibreTexts on Facebook, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Blue Sky.