The Japan Open Textbook Publishing Consortium (日本オープン教科書出版コンソーシアム) is an initiative led by educators in Japan. From 2026 to 2028, we are running a two-year pilot of OpenStudio.pub, a shared open publishing platform for higher education.
Open educational resources (OER) in Japan are often shared as static PDF files in institutional repositories, where they can be difficult to discover, update, adapt, and use across different devices. OpenStudio takes a web-native approach. Each chapter has its own web address, making materials easier to search, link to, and reuse. Educators can add video, audio, and interactive H5P activities without programming knowledge, while readers can also download books as PDF or EPUB. The platform supports both Japanese and English.
The Consortium aims to:
- Provide a shared open publishing platform where educators in Japan can publish independently or collaborate across institutions.
- Help educators explore accessible, interactive, and media-rich approaches to publishing beyond static PDFs, while recognizing that institutions have different needs and are at different stages of open education.
- Encourage the creation, adoption, adaptation, and sharing of open educational materials, while strengthening collaboration and knowledge sharing across institutions.
Through this pilot, we are exploring how open, adaptable, and up-to-date learning resources can support student learning and extend opportunities for learning beyond the classroom.