The Open University will upload dozens of books to the web for free use and free of charge

The Open University is the first academic institution in Israel to make its knowledge assets available to the general public on the Internet.

The Open University is currently launching a project in which tens of books, lesson plans, presentations, and other reference materials will be uploaded to the Internet for free use (the project launch event will be held on May 22, Then the URL will also be opened to the general public.
The purpose of the project, known as "Par" (acronym for "opening spiritual treasures"), is to make available the textbooks for dozens of courses as well as some of the extensive knowledge accumulated at the Open University for the benefit of the general public in Israel and the world.

The new project of the Open University fits into a worldwide trend of academic institutions seeking to make knowledge assets available to the general public through the Internet. The uniqueness of the project is that, for the first time, an academic institution uploads entire books to the Internet and allows the general public to use them free of charge.

In the first phase of the project, the textbooks for ten courses in various fields will be uploaded to the internet: the theatrical experience, trends in Israeli society, genocide, from a national home to a state on the way, intergenerational economics, critical thinking, the basics of physics, equal opportunities and the prohibition of discrimination at work , Statistics A for the social sciences, topics in mathematics for the social sciences. Also, the course books "Between Jews and Christians" in the Russian language will be uploaded to the Internet, which can be used by the immigrant community in Israel and the millions of Russian speakers in the world.

In the second phase, which is expected to be completed next year, dozens of books in 40 additional courses in the humanities, social sciences, natural and life sciences, and exact sciences will be uploaded to the network. In total, hundreds of books, study guides and other reference materials will be uploaded to the Internet as part of the project.

The first academic institution to make its teaching materials (presentations, exercises, and lesson plans) available to the general public was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, which did so six years ago, and following it, other academic bodies in the United States and Europe began to open the their knowledge resources. Until now, academic institutions in the world have uploaded to the Internet, lesson plans, syllabi, presentations and exercises, but not complete textbooks.

The president of the Open University, Prof. Gershon Ben Shahar, noted that the new venture is a step up in fulfilling the university's vision to expand access to higher education. "Our goal is to enable everyone in Israel and the world to have freer access to knowledge," emphasized Prof. Ben-Shahar, "and we hope that the project will be a model for additional and diverse activities in this field."

The online books will be offered to the public in full electronic format, with a rich pedagogical and technological envelope. Digital learning tools will also be added to the books, such as a full audio version of the book (in MP3 format, recorded video lectures, interactive exercises, etc.

The books will be uploaded to the Internet using advanced technology that will allow readers, among other things, to mark ("marker") the online books, search within them using keywords, and link from them to other sources of information on the Internet. The project was carried out and implemented by the company Olive - which provides conversion technology to an electronic format and by the company Netwise - which provides a system for managing and marking external notes.

As part of the "Par" project, a special website of the Open University was established where the books and accompanying study materials will be presented. Entry to the site will be free and free of charge. Surfers will not only be able to read the online books but also watch and listen to recorded lectures of courses taught at the Open University, and even use presentations and lesson plans, exercises and solutions, summaries and other enrichment materials.