COMM601 Textbook Conversion to OER
In 2016, I produced an open textbook for my COMM601 Trends in Digital & Social Media online course. This was a USNH sponsored project as part of the USNH Open Education initiative. The goals were to eliminate the cost of a textbook for students and to determine the possibilities and affordances of self-publishing online course content.
The project involved the following key challenges:
- Research and testing various open source e-book authoring systems.
- Planning the narrative design and tone of chapter content.
- Testing various e-book formats and e-book reader for different devices and platforms.
Results, impact, and lessons learned:
- Typical savings for students amounted to $400 per cohort, with courses offered twice a year.
- Students retained and annotated their own copy of the e-book for future use. All content and annotation is searchable.
- Students did not have to log into the online course in order to access readings and media.
- PressBooks emerged as the definitive platform for e-book authoring; clearly better than Sigil.
- Control over the narrative of instructional content enabled me to present it with greater coherence rather than as a collection of links in the course module. Added links to social media and website accounts of prominent authors so that students could make direct connections. Control of the instructional narrative in the e-book enabled better alignment between key focal points in the e-book and areas of discussion/interaction in the online course.
- Student research within course interaction contributed to improvements in e-book content. Exemplary articles were added to the e-book with attribution to the student who originally curated it in online discussions.
- Lesson learned: Embracing an e-book strategy requires continuous attention and revision. Creating an e-book is an exercise in parentage and constant experimentation.
