3.6 Scope and Plan
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Develop an understanding of all the prior steps to be taken before adopting/creating OER.
- Plan and carry out effective adoption/creation of OER.
- Know the necessary steps to follow before giving the final touch to the adopted/created OER.
A Few Steps Before You Begin
A good rule of thumb when creating an adapted textbook is to keep it simple, especially if you are approaching a remix project for the first time. While it may be tempting to make a number of major changes to a textbook before releasing it to your students, think of the textbook as a living resource that you can improve incrementally over time. Here are a few steps to consider before adapting an existing textbook.
- First, check the license to make sure you have permission to modify the contents. This would be ideally an open resource or most Creative Commons licenses. As long as the Creative Commons license does not have a No Derivative (ND) attribute, you are able to change the contents of the resource as long as you follow the other guidelines of the respective resource. See Creative Commons for more information on licenses.
- Consult the outcomes for the course you are developing.
- Consider how much time you will need to devote to developing OER materials for your course and develop a plan:
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- If you are only adopting, you will still need to develop supplementary materials.
- If you are adapting, you may need to create supplementary materials and write original material to meet your course outcomes.
- If you are creating an OER text, it could take a long time to finish your project when considering steps like writing the text, proofreading, editing, peer reviewing, preparing the text for dissemination, and making the text accessible to a wide variety of learners.
- Check the file format. If you want to adapt or create an open textbook, you will need it in a workable technical format, i.e. an editable file type. These include:
- Pressbooks or WordPress files (.xml or .wxr)
- HTML files (webpages)
- Word document (.docx) or OpenDocument Text (.odt)
- Simple text files (.txt)
- EPUB (see “Export Google Docs files as EPUB publications“)
- LaTeX files (if the original book includes math or science formulas and equations)
- Avoid PDF documents. Many open textbooks are only available as a PDF document, which are not editable. If you want to adapt an open textbook that is only available in PDF format, you will need to convert the PDF document to one of the editable formats listed above. Converting a PDF document to an editable format is a difficult, time consuming, and imprecise process. Before taking the time to do this, consider contacting the author and asking for a copy of the textbook’s source files.
- Use editing tools. Once you have an editable file, you are ready to begin your adaptation. The tools you use to create your adaptation will depend on the source file of the original textbook and how comfortable you feel working with the format and tool. Pressbooks is a commonly used publishing and editing tool, and you can import a number of different formats into Pressbooks for editing.
Five Rules of Textbook Development
Before you start developing a textbook, here are some guidelines that will help you to make sure that your book looks organized, makes sense and is a good resource.[1]
1. Rule of Frameworks
Memory and understanding are promoted by the use of a structure that mimics the structures we all use within our minds to store information. Before we can use or master a subject, we have to have a mental road map that allows us to navigate within and through the subject domain. The text can best aid understanding by making this framework visible early on within each section or topic. The extent to which the student understands that they are using a framework, and knows what that framework is, is important as they internalize and make use of the material presented.
2. Rule of Meaningful Names
Everything we know is tagged with an index or a title. These indexes are critical to the ability to recall or retrieve the things we know and remember. Each concept, process, technique or fact presented should aid the student to assign a meaningful name for it in their own mental organization of the material. To be most useful, these names shouldn’t have to be relearned at higher levels of study. The names assigned by the text should be useful in that they support some future activities: communication with other practitioners, reference within the text to earlier mastered material, and conformity to the framework used for the subject. Each unique element of the subject domain should have a unique name, and each name should be used for only one element.
3. Rule of Manageable Numbers
When we learn from an outline, an illustration, or an example, 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, but for new material four to six new elements is a reasonable limit. If a chapter outline contains twelve items, the student will have forgotten the outline before getting to the last item. When a text fails to support this rule, it requires even a diligent student to needlessly repeat material.
4. Rule of Hierarchy
Our mental frameworks are hierarchical. Learning is aided by using the student’s ability to couple or link new material with that already mastered. When presenting new domains for hierarchical understanding, the rules for meaningful names and manageable numbers have increased importance and more limited application. A maximum of three levels of hierarchy should be presented at one time. The root should be already mastered, the current element under consideration clearly examined, and lower levels outlined only to the extent that they help the student understand the scope or importance of the current element. This area is supplemented by two more rules within this rule: those of Connectivity and Cohesion. Connectivity requires consideration of what the student likely knows at this point. The more already-mastered elements that one can connect with a new element, the easier it is to retain. Cohesion requires that as the characteristics of new elements are presented, they be tightly coupled.
5. Rule of Repetition
Most people learn by repetition, and only a few with native genius can achieve mastery without it. There is a pattern of repetition that aids in promoting the elements of a subject from short-term to long-term memory. Implementations of this rule may mean that frameworks and important hierarchies are repeated as many as five or six times, while frequently used elements are repeated three or four times, and elements of lesser utility may not be repeated at all. The first repetition should normally occur within a day of first presentation, followed by a gradually decreasing frequency. Exercises and review sections are ideally contributing to a designed repetition pattern.
5 Rules of Textbook Development added description:
- The rule of frameworks means maintain a consistent structure. The text can best aid understanding by making this framework visible early on.
- The rule of meaningful names means create and use consistent titles and terminologies. The names are critical to the ability to recall or retrieve the things we know and remember.
- The rule of manageable numbers means limit the amount of new information introduced at one time.
- The rule of hierarchy means new knowledge builds on learned knowledge. 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.
- The rule of repetition means repeat important concepts. There is a pattern of repetition that aids in promoting the elements of a subject from short-term to long-term memory.
Workflow and Responsibilities
Adopting OERs
When an instructor adopts an OER, they use it as-is in their course to replace costly materials.
Adopting an OER means that an instructor is integrating Open Educational Materials into their courses without significant revisions, similar to adopting and integrating any new textbook into an existing course. The difference here is that when adopting OER, there is no publisher support.
The work of adopting OER includes creating or finding supplementary and ancillary materials for students. There are many resources online you can adopt and adapt, but this is added onto the work of finding and evaluating an OER textbook for a course.
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OER Finding and Adopting Guide for Instructors: Worksheet [Google Doc]
by Kate Hess, Kirkwood Community College
Adapting and Creating OERs
In addition to the cost to students, one of the biggest advantages of choosing an open textbook is that it gives faculty the legal right to add to, adapt, or delete the content of the textbook to fit their specific course without obtaining permission from the copyright holder. This is possible because the copyright holder has already granted permission by releasing their work using an open, or Creative Commons, license. This type of license gives users permission to use and reuse, share, copy, retain and modify the textbook without consulting the author.
When creating or adapting a new OER, you will go through five general phases:
- Make a plan.
- Create and adapt content.
- Have the work reviewed and edited.
- Make any necessary revisions.
- Publish and share widely.
The section below provides an extensive overview of each of these phases, the specifics that you as the author/project lead are responsible for, and the resources available to help you.
Plan
Before adapting an existing book, it’s important to establish a road map that will guide the timeline of the work, layout and style of the work, and desired changes. Whether your adaptation is small or large, this step is important to ensure a cohesive and consistent final product. Below are tips to help you with style and consistency.
Style
A style guide should be used when writing an open textbook to ensure that style and formatting is consistent throughout the work. Style guides usually include citation style as well, i.e. how cited or referenced material should be treated both in the text (in-text) and within the reference list. Commonly used style guides include,
- APA Style. APA (American Psychological Association) style is typically used to cite and style works in the social sciences and education.
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Chicago style is most often used to cite, and style works in the humanities. This style was developed by the Chicago University Press in 1906. [2]
- MLA Style Manual. MLA (Modern Language Association of America) style is most frequently used to cite and style works in the literary and humanities fields.
- The Canadian Press Stylebook. The Canadian Press style is the standard style guide for those working in media and communications.
In addition to selecting a style guide, it is advised that a style sheet be created and updated throughout the writing process. A style sheet is a record of the styling and formatting exceptions for your textbook, such as spelling choices, selection and placement of learning objects, and differences in punctuation, layout, and style from the style guide. Frequently used style elements can also be noted on the style sheet for easy reference, especially during the copyediting and proofreading stages.
Here is a template from BC campus that you can use to set up the style sheet for your open textbook:
- Download the above style-sheet template and fill out as much information as possible, including book title, author, copy editor, and proofreader.
- Add or remove items as they pertain to your book. These might include:
- Exercises (and how to format them)
- Back matter and/or appendix information and how to label each
- Key terms: how and when to highlight them in the text body and if they should be summarized in an end-of-book glossary
- In addition to different or additional styles and formatting, you can list:
- Styling issues included in the style guide, but repeated in the style sheet for easy reference
- The correct usage of grammar and spellings that are often inaccurate
- Change and update the style sheet throughout textbook production. Update the style sheet each time you make changes or add to it, and share it with your team.
- When the book is finished, date the style sheet and mark it as the “final copy.” This reference document can be shared as part of your textbook when it’s published.
Consistency
One of the challenges of adapting an open textbook is to create a final product that is consistent throughout. It is highly recommended that you assess the original textbook before you begin. Once this has been done, attempt to match all revised and new text, resources, layout and citation styles to that of the original work.
Assess Language and Tone
Begin by assessing the style and tone of the original text. Here are some elements to be aware of:
- Is the tone of the language formal, or friendly and conversational?
- How does the author address the reader? From a distance? Or does the author include the reader with phrases such as “we learn” and “you will see”?
- How is punctuation used? For example, are serial commas used, i.e. a comma before “and” when listing three or more things: “the cat, the dog, and the horse” OR “the cat, the dog and the horse”.
- How long is the typical sentence? Paragraph?
- Pay attention to the word count for existing chapters, including average and range. Try to maintain this count for both new and revised chapters. Ask your project manager for assistance, if required.
What is the Layout?
As you review the textbook, take note of the following:
- Does each chapter contain specific pedagogical features such as Learning Objectives, Exercises, Summary, Suggested Readings, and highlighted points of interest?
- Does the author use lists? If so, are bullets or numbers used or something else?
- How are headings used? Are sub-headings used? What is the highest heading level used?
- How long are sections under a heading or sub-heading?
How are Resources Used?
Resources refer to all items other than text, such as photos, graphs, diagrams and multimedia content including video or audio links. Pay attention to what types of resources the original author used, how often they are inserted, and how they are labelled. Ensure all external resources are either released with an open copyright license or are in the public domain.
For more information on fair use, see the University of Alberta Libraries’ Fair Use and Applying Fair Use videos.
Also, see Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources.
- Resources should have a caption (e.g., Figure 1 + description). See the Captions section in this guide for further details.
- Differentiate between figures and tables (i.e. Figure 1.2 or Table 1.2).
- For adaptations, use the numbering system employed by the original author.
- For new creations, use a numbering system that incorporates the chapter number and image sequence. For example, for the first figure in Chapter 1, caption the figure as Figure 1.1.
- New types of resources can be added to the adapted version, however, keep the overall textbook in mind. When adding a new type of resource, ensure that it enhances the flow of the book.
- In addition to the above, we suggest the attribution be based on the best practices for attribution recommended by Creative Commons.
References and Citation Style
When you assess the textbook, identify both the citation style and how and where references are listed in the book, such as at the end of each chapter, at the end of the book, or as footnotes. Note how in-text citations are used including punctuation. Consider using the same citation style.
Find Collaborators
Identify people who can contribute to the project (including students, staff, and/or subject matter experts) as co-authors, reviewers, editors, instructional designers, etc.
Connect with Experts
Connect with the people at your institution who have experience on things like open education, copyright, and instructional design who may be able to help.
Plan your Resource
Identify what content you have and what you will need. This can include text, images, videos, etc.
Select/Create Media
Select/create video, audio, and images that are accessible and openly licensed.
- See the BC Campus’s Accessibility Toolkit’s chapter on Images and Accessibility Toolkit’s chapter on Multimedia, for more information.
Edit Your Own Work
Edit your own work for errors and inconsistencies. Ensure language is clear.
Set Up Peer Reviews
Bring in people to give feedback on the work.
Incorporate Feedback
Incorporate revisions and edits identified by reviewers and editors.
Have Work Copyedited
Have the resource copyedited and proofread by someone who is not the author. There should be no changes to the content after this point. The WSU Resource Sharing office can assist with this. Contact us at oer@weber.edu to learn more.
Final Steps
Set Up Book Cover and Metadata
Select an official title for the resource, have a cover created, and write a short description of the resource. Ensure all metadata for the book is filled out, including the license, authors, contributors, publish date.
Share Publicly
Share your book with the world!
Additional Resources
- OER Creation Process graphic by Josie Gray was created in Canva, and as such it cannot be openly licensed. It includes four icons from the Noun Project:
- Planning by Ninejipjip is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
- Typing by Vectors Market is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
- Group by Angie Reyes is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
- Review by hafiudin is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license
The content in this chapter comes from Wikibooks:Textbook considerations and is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.
“Open Educational Resources” by Jennifer Jordan, OER Grant Program, University of New Mexico is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Media Attributions
- colour-depend-1-300×249
- OER Creation Process1
