Alongside our own personal finance course, the Course Library includes eleven free, openly licensed textbooks from OpenStax, the open textbook publisher at Rice University. They cover economics, business, finance and data science at an introductory college level. You add them to a class like any other course, and your students read them inside Intertwined, chapter by chapter, on any device.
Available on: every plan, including Free. Any teacher can add the OpenStax textbooks in the Library to a class.
The books
In Library > Courses, the OpenStax books sit on three shelves. Each card shows the cover, the number of units (one per chapter) and the book's license.
Economics
Principles of Economics 3e: micro and macro in one book. Fits a full-year economics course. (CC BY 4.0)
Principles of Microeconomics 3e: markets, firms, labor and public policy. The micro half of Economics 3e. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Principles of Macroeconomics 3e: growth, unemployment, inflation, money and policy. The macro half of Economics 3e. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Business
Introduction to Business 2e: how businesses work, from ownership and management to marketing, accounting and finance. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Entrepreneurship: from spotting an opportunity to pitching, funding and launching a venture. (CC BY 4.0)
Business Ethics: stakeholders, what employers and employees owe each other, and ethics across professions. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Business Law I Essentials 2e: the legal system, contracts, torts, employment law and regulation, in a shorter text. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Principles of Marketing: customers, segmentation, products, pricing, promotion and distribution. (CC BY 4.0)
Principles of Management: decision-making, strategy, structure, leadership, motivation and teams. (CC BY 4.0)
Finance & data
Principles of Finance 2e: financial statements, the time value of money, stocks, bonds and corporate finance. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Principles of Data Science: collecting, analyzing and visualizing data, plus machine learning and AI basics. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The three economics books overlap: Economics 3e is Microeconomics 3e and Macroeconomics 3e combined, and the two halves share their opening chapters and the chapters on trade. A note at the top of the Economics shelf lays this out. Pick the full book for a year, or one half for a semester.
How a book is laid out in Intertwined
Chapters are units, and each chapter's sections are the sections you assign.
Each section is split into short lessons, each with its own name in the lesson list, so students read a section a page at a time.
End-of-chapter material, such as chapter summaries and review questions, is included as reading. The course preview describes this as "Students get: readings with end-of-chapter questions".
Figures, tables and equations appear in the lessons. On a small screen, a wide equation scrolls sideways instead of squeezing.
How they differ from Intertwined's own course
Level: the Library labels them "Intro college", where Personal Finance Core Foundations (3e) is "High school". They suit advanced or dual-enrollment students, electives, or extension reading.
No section quizzes: the books don't come with Intertwined quizzes, so they won't produce quiz scores in your Gradebook. Plan your own checks for understanding, or use the review questions in each chapter.
No Teaching Toolkit materials: the Toolkit's lesson plans, slides and worksheets are written for Personal Finance Core Foundations.
No Twine Town or certificates: both come only with Personal Finance Core Foundations (3e).
Using a book with your class
Add the book to your class from Library > Courses or from the class's Coursework > Assigned Courses > Add Course. See Adding a course to your classroom.
If you're only teaching some chapters, open only those with Manage Access (Intertwined Solo and school plans). Students see the whole table of contents but can open only what you've opened. See Manage Access: choosing which units students can open.
Assign the sections you want read with Create Assignment > Reading material. See Creating an assignment.
Read aloud and math
Every reading lesson has a Read aloud button that reads the text in the browser's voice and highlights each word. Read aloud skips equations, so in the more math-heavy books, such as Principles of Finance 2e, students using it should keep an eye on the screen for formulas. The equations themselves display normally.
Licenses and attribution
OpenStax shares these books under Creative Commons licenses, and each card in the Library shows which one applies. The note at the bottom of the Course Library says: "OpenStax textbooks are shared under Creative Commons licenses (CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, shown on each one). OpenStax book covers are used with permission of Rice University. Intertwined isn't affiliated with or endorsed by OpenStax or Rice University." Students see a similar note on their My Courses page.
In plain terms: CC BY 4.0 lets you copy and adapt the material as long as you credit OpenStax. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 adds two conditions: no commercial use, and anything you adapt is shared under the same license. If you copy text or figures into your own handouts, credit the book and follow the license shown on its card.
Common questions
Do I need Intertwined Pro for OpenStax?
Not for the textbooks. Every plan can add the OpenStax books in the Course Library to a class. Separately, Create Assignment has an older OpenStax option under Student tools that sends students to a standalone OpenStax library page; that option is part of Intertwined Pro. For most classes, adding the book itself as a course is the better choice, because students read it chapter by chapter inside their course list.
Where did the OpenStax page in the sidebar go?
The OpenStax books now live in the Course Library with the rest of the curriculum, so the separate sidebar page was removed. Look for them on the Economics, Business and Finance & data shelves in Library > Courses.
Can I use an OpenStax book and Personal Finance Core Foundations in the same class?
Yes. A class can have several courses. Students see each one separately on My Courses, and each keeps its own progress.
Do students need an OpenStax account?
No. Students read the books inside Intertwined with their usual login.