‘Black Lives in Astronomy,’ Expert TA, Short Video Index, and Other Ancillary Materials to Go with the OpenStax Free On-line Textbook Project

The free, on-line, open-source, introductory astronomy textbook by Fraknoi, Morrison, and Wolff, which is part of the non-profit OpenStax project, now has over 1,000 adopters and has been used by some 400,000 students/readers (saving astronomy students more than 25 million dollars). There is now a new “Expert TA: Astronomy” computerized bank of 1,100 multiple-choice questions, 300+ calculation problems, and 200+ graphical questions. Our Open Education Resources Hub has about 40 ancillary materials to go with the book, including new resource guides to “Black Lives in Astronomy.” “Short Videos Organized by Astronomy Topic,” “Plays and Films about Astronomers,” and “An Updated List of Astronomy Simulations.” More than 75 astronomers have contributed to this community project and we invite others to join us. The book URL is http://openstax.org/details/astronomy (and you can get to the OER Hub from the Instructor Resources page.)