{"id":4837,"date":"2017-12-31T13:33:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T21:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/?p=4837"},"modified":"2017-12-31T13:33:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-31T21:33:44","slug":"open-textbook-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/2017\/12\/31\/open-textbook-beginnings\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Experience Co-Writing an Open Textbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We met together for the last time on December 16th.<\/p>\n

The way the course is structured, we gather in person for a half day at the start and end of the term and then have three web conferences every other week throughout the eight-week class. The weeks in between the web meetings, we have asynchronous learning experiences and connect on Twitter. We were concluding the term, after having created something that would last well beyond our class\u2019 end date.<\/p>\n

This class is now the hardest one that I teach with any regularity. I struggle with trying to have us all unlearn some of the ways that we think about the role of technology in our teaching and more broadly in our lives. I also fail regularly at trying to redefine what it means to be a teacher of a course like this.<\/p>\n

The individuals in the class have always fit the description of what is known as \u201cteaching to the tails.\u201d I wind up having many learners who are uncomfortable experimenting with technology and seeing how it might enhance their teaching or learning in some way. There are also always at least a few who have regularly embraced educational technology in their pedagogy.<\/p>\n

For the Fall of 2017, I took the radical step (at least to me) of doing away with a textbook for the class. The ones we had used in the past had too great an emphasis on K-12 when not everyone in the program worked within that educational context. They also got out of date too quickly and were somewhat cost-prohibitive.<\/p>\n

Open Textbooks<\/h2>\n

This first recollection I have of hearing the phrase \u201copen textbook\u201d was from Kris Shaffer<\/a>, who spoke about his Open Music Theory Textbook<\/a> project on episode 74<\/a> of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. I am embarrassed to admit that I don\u2019t think I got it at the time.<\/p>\n

I understood that he had written an online textbook with another guy. At the time, I suspect that I hadn\u2019t yet realized (and probably still am lacking in understanding) how much textbook costs factor into college students\u2019 financial difficulties<\/a>. Since music is not my discipline, I didn\u2019t really have an appreciation for how this text compared to others published in a more traditional way.<\/p>\n

After speaking with Kris for the podcast, I discovered his post for Hybrid Pedagogy: The Critical Textbook<\/a>. He writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cTextbooks as fixed expressions limit academic freedom and arbitrate student success\/failure to a non-trivial degree.\u201d – Kris Shaffer (@krisshaffer), April 2, 2014<\/p>\n

Getting Started<\/h2>\n

By the time I decided to have our class write an open textbook together, I had many sources of inspiration<\/a>, but still felt unsure on much of the process.<\/p>\n

Orientation<\/h3>\n

During our class orientation, I spoke at length about the problem with what are often referred to as throw-away assignments. Contrasting writing a research paper for our class that would only be read by me with co-writing a book together generated quite a bit of excitement. Alan Levine\u2019 story about his first experience competing a renewable assignment<\/a> in 1984 is inspiring. I was excited to create something more meaningful for and with this group of individuals.<\/p>\n

What I wish I would have done during the orientation was to have students read through some clarifying text and asked them to digitally fill in their understanding of some core ways we would approach this endeavor together:<\/p>\n