Authoring Open Textbooks

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Open textbooks are not only free — a big deal on its own in an age of rising education costs — but also licensed in such a way that they can be freely edited or modified. Open textbooks are typically distributed online in multiple formats (for example, PDF or EPUB). Often it’s possible to buy a printed, bound open textbook in a college bookstore or online at low cost, enabling students to choose the format that works best for their budget and learning style.

This short video summarizes research on perception and effectiveness of OER over the past few years. This provides motivation for continuing to grow local OER initiatives, because conclusions show students perform as well as better with OER texts, and generally perceive them to be as high quality as publisher-provided texts.

Open means that everything in the open textbook, including images, are openly licensed. In addition, the Open Textbook Network and Open Textbook Library consider the right to adapt an open textbook to be integral to the definition of open. This means that the books in the Open Textbook Library use open licenses that allow others to add, remove and/or rearrange content. This enables faculty to update content to reflect trends in the field or change content to accommodate their course design and timeline.

Seeing is Believing

Four OER Textbook Covers

The best way to learn about open textbooks is to explore them yourself. Here are links to several open textbooks across disciplines:

Economics – Theory Through Applications
This textbook centers around student needs and expectations through two premises: Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives; and students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem.

Communication Skills
This textbook was designed to support students who are studying Communication during the first semester of the first year. Created by lecturers from the University of Malawi – Bunda College of Agriculture, the intention of the Communication Skills course and this textbook is to provide students new to tertiary education, with the prerequisite language skills required to excel in the higher education environment.

Environmental Biology
This open textbook covers the most salient environmental issues, from a biological perspective. The text is designed for an introductory-level college science course. Topics include the fundamentals of ecology, biodiversity, pollution,  climate change, food production, and human population growth.

Boundless Calculus
The Boundless Calculus textbook is a college-level, introductory textbook that covers the subject of Calculus. Boundless works with subject matter experts to select the best open educational resources available on the web, review the content for quality, and create introductory, college-level textbooks designed to meet the study needs of university students.

Milne Open Textbooks (formerly Open SUNY Textbooks)
Milne Open Textbooks is an open textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York libraries and supported by SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants and SUNY Geneseo.

In January 2011, Charlie Mitchell, Professor of Theatre at University of Florida, decided to create an open textbook. You can explore his journey to OER through the narratives he shares on the Open Source Theater Textbook blog.

Other Tales of OER Textbook Initiatives

The Open Textbook Cookbook
This site explores the tale of a team of academics, librarians, and students who got together to hack a media studies textbook – in a weekend.

How to Write an Open Textbook in a Weekend
Read about another group who tackled an open textbook project in a weekend! This group from Finland hosted an event called Oppikirjamaraton (“textbook marathon”), to create a work licensed CC BY, so that anyone could reuse or remix it in Finland or around the world.

The 5 Rules of Textbook Development

Once you are ready to start developing your OER content, you will want to reference rules of textbook development:

Originally arranged by Wikibooks: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Textbook_considerations and then adapted by BCCampus Open Education (https://open.bccampus.ca/2014/06/10/the-5-rules-of-textbook-development/).

1. RULE OF FRAMEWORKS

Maintain a consistent structure. The structure acts as a mental roadmap that allows learners to navigate within and through the subject domain. To best aid in understanding, the structure should be visible early on.

2. RULE OF MEANINGFUL NAMES

Create and use consistent titles and terminologies. Use terminology that is common in your discipline. These names are critical to the ability to recall or retrieve the things we know and remember.

3. RULE OF MANAGEABLE NUMBERS

Limit the amount of information introduced at one time. For new material, four to six new elements are a reasonable limit. Most of us are limited in our ability to absorb new material. As we become familiar with part of a subject domain, this number expands.

4. RULE OF HEIRARCHY

New knowledge builds on learned knowledge. When introducing new material, only refer to foundational material if it is relevant to the new material. The student needs to understand the foundational knowledge before being introduced to a new concept. When new concepts are introduced they should be explicitly connected to the foundational material.

5. RULE OF REPETITION

Repeat important concepts. For example, frameworks and important hierarchies are repeated as many as five or six times; frequently used elements are repeated three or four times; and elements of lesser utility may not be repeated at all. There is a pattern of repetition that aids in promoting the elements of a subject from short-term to long-term memory.

Getting Started

The first draft is probably the hardest part of making an open textbook. A few hints to get you writing faster:

Begin with defining learning objectives and key terms. This assures you or your group are writing, very specifically, to set goals and objectives. Decide on key terms and vocabulary early in the drafting process to help with consistency throughout the textbook.

Draft in a flash. Get your ideas drafted quickly, without formatting. Don’t worry about headings, graphics, or other issues. It may help prevent writer’s block. There will be time to proofread, copyedit and format the book later.

Create a resource wish list. Keep a list of materials you’d like to include in the book, but haven’t found yet. If you need a break from writing, work on the list.

Working Together

You may decide to work as a group to create an open textbook. If you go this route, consider bringing everyone together to launch the project. Brainstorm topics and concepts to define scope and give everyone a voice in the overall product. Having everyone on board early will prevent rework and confusion as the project progresses.

During the drafting process, work together to identify learning objectives, key terms and potential resources. Doing so assures that everyone is working to the same end.

Divide the work by defining roles, such as:

  • Writer: Writes draft with consistent voice and tone. Since writing is especially time-consuming, it helps to have a few writers, especially if a group has more than three people.
  • Curator: Finds or makes supplemental resources. The writer may request materials from the curator, using the resource wish list.
  • Archivist: Documents resources used throughout the book. Works with the writer and curator to manage assets. This person may also check attribution in a final draft, and provide appropriate captions and other related help.

The OER Textbook “To Do” List

Take some time to explore this “to-do” list if you are thinking about creating an open textbook:

  • Familiarize yourself with open licenses – again! You will need to select a license to use at the very beginning, as it may impact what openly licensed material you can include in your work.
  • Remember you can remix. Learn where to find openly licensed material you can use. Librarians can help! You can also search Google by license. If you will be creating material (photos, for example) consider how to openly share those assets with others (like Flickr).
  • Decide where you plan to share. Start exploring your publishing options, and take note of what each of those repositories, libraries and/or distributors may require.
  • Reach out for help. Consider who may be able to offer help at your institution — librarians and instructional designers, for example.
  • Collaborate with care. If you decide to work with others, take the time to meet and clarify expectations and roles. Draft and sign a contract or MOU.
  • Stay on track. Developing a timeline for textbook production will help considerably. Include writing time as well as editing, proofreading and peer review time.
  • Develop a design plan. Detail out how you want to define the content and element structure. Each chapter needs to be consistent with the next so that students know what to expect.
  • Choose a style. Decide which style guide you’d like to use for your textbook and use it as a reference.
  • Make accessibility a priority. Commit to making your textbook accessible for a range of students.
  • Establish a content life-cycle. Make a plan for how you’re going to handle updates and revisions so that your textbook stays up-to-date.
  • Appoint reviewers. Create a list of peers who are willing to review your textbook and offer constructive feedback.
  • Select a development tool. Decide which tool or tools may be helpful for writing your textbook. This may differ depending on whether you’re writing solo or with others.
  • Select a publishing platform. Survey which publishing tools look like a good fit for your textbook. Consider their capabilities related to your planned textbook content and elements.
  • Share your lessons learned. Take time to make note of your experience and share it out with your colleagues and peers. Your experience can guide and inspire others who are interested in creating and publishing any type of OER.

This content is adapted from the following work:

“Authoring Open Textbooks” by the Open Textbook Network, licensed under CC BY 4.0

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