This page explains how you, as an EUR lecturer, can publish open textbooks using Wikiwijs Maken. You will find step-by-step guidance on planning your book, licensing and attribution, and publishing in a way that makes your textbook easy to share and reuse.
Open textbooks are textbooks published online under an open license, so students can access them immediately and colleagues can reuse them with proper credit. At EUR, we support open textbooks because they improve access, reduce costs for students, and make teaching materials easier to update and improve over time. They also help make EUR education more visible and reusable beyond our own classrooms.
You do not need to write a full book to get started. Many open textbooks begin as a single chapter, course reader, or practical guide that grows over time. Try your hand at using Wikiwijs Maken to start this process. You will be surprised at how easy it is and how effective it will be at creating, updating, and sharing materials with your students and colleagues.
How to start
If you want to publish an open textbook, the quickest route is to start small: publish one chapter or module first. The links and steps below take you from first draft to something you can share and improve over time.
- Open the EUR Wikiwijs guide and follow the instructions carefully.
- Log into Wikiwijs (the tool is in Dutch only, for now) via SURFconext,
- Create a new module (called arrangement on Wikiwijs).
- Create one chapter or module using your existing teaching materials.
- Choose a Creative Commons license and add attributions for any third-party content.
- Publish in Wikiwijs and share the link with students or add it to Canvas.
- Request a quick check from the Library if you want feedback on licensing, attribution, or accessibility.
Resources
Check out these resources on how to publish your own textbook using Wikiwijs:
More information on Open Textbooks
An open textbook is a textbook that is published online and free to download and share. It is typically released under a Creative Commons license, which clarifies how others may reuse it and what attribution is required.
Open textbooks can be a complete book, but they can also be modular: a set of chapters, a course reader, or a guide that can be updated over time.
Open textbooks support EUR’s educational goals by:
- Improving access for students (materials are available from day one).
- Enabling continuous improvement (you can revise and update when teaching changes).
- Strengthening collaboration (others can adapt, translate, or build on your work).
- Increasing visibility of EUR teaching practice and expertise beyond the classroom.
If you want inspiration, several universities communicate open textbooks as a concrete way to make teaching materials reusable and shareable, with library support from idea to publication.
You do not need to start with a full book. Many open textbooks begin as a single chapter or course module and grow over time.
A practical workflow (from idea to publication)
The national plan on open education (versnellingsplan) describes a clear sequence: preparing the project, writing/producing content, and publishing with the right metadata and outputs.
At EUR we recommend this lightweight version:
- Plan the scope
Decide whether you are publishing a whole book or a chapter-based resource. Consider co-authors and how you want students to use the material. - Create and review
Write your content and check copyright and reuse permissions for third-party materials. Peer review is optional, but can improve quality and adoption. - Publish and make it findable
Add good metadata (title, description, keywords), choose a Creative Commons license, and publish in formats you need (web, PDF, EPUB, and where relevant LMS formats).
For EUR pilots and support materials we currently recommend Wikiwijs Maken, because it is part of the Dutch open education infrastructure and its metadata is harvested into Edurep, making resources findable in edusources.
Before writing from scratch, check whether an open textbook already exists that you can adopt or adapt. The EUR Library OER page also lists repositories and search tools that include open textbooks.
These are the most relevant textbook repositories for Dutch lecturers:
- SURF edusources (Dutch open education portal)
- Open Textbook Library
- OASIS (search across many OER sources)
- OpenStax (open textbooks)
Tip: when reusing, always check the license and include proper attribution (title, author, source link, license).
Below are links to 26 websites, arranged by type (image, video, audio).
Image
- Wikimedia Commons (image, audio, video).
- Pixabay (image, audio, video).
- Openverse (image).
- Unsplash (image).
- Pikwizard (image).
- Freeimages.
- Pexels (image).
- Picjumbo (image).
- Morguefile (image).
- Dreamstime (image, note: search via the 'free photos' option).
- Rawpixel (image, note: search via the 'Public Domain' option).
- Flickr (image, note: filter by Creative Commons license).
- Sclera (icons).
You can also search Google Images for open content. There you can filter for material with a Creative Commons license under the 'Tools' tab.
Video
- Wikimedia Commons (image, audio, video).
- Pixabay (image, audio, video).
- Open images (video).
Tip: embedding videos from YouTube or Vimeo is allowed. The video is already online. So you don't duplicate the material in this way, but you refer to it.
Before you start linking and embedding, it is wise to read why you (usually) do not infringe copyright in this way. You can read more about the exceptions to copyright rules here.
Audio
- Wikimedia Commons (image, audio, video)
- Bensound (audio)
- Pixabay (image, audio, video)
- Creative Commons Legal Music For Videos (audio)
Contact
Erasmus Library Open Education Team
University Library
- Email address
- openaccess@eur-nl.libanswers.com
For questions, contact the Erasmus Library Open Education Team via email. A team member will respond to your email as soon as possible.