Building Communities of Practice to Encourage Open Textbook Use
SloanC-MERLOT Conference July 12, 2011
With generous support from DynamicBooks
Slide 1
The challengeIncrease adoption, effective use, and
sustainability of open-licensed textbooks
The solutionCommunities of Practice
Slide 2
Why we are here today
Hear from our panelists about the lessons they’ve learned in
forming working communities of practice around open
textbooks
Hear from you about lessons you’ve learned
Slide 3
Goals
Share the practices that have worked and those that have
not
Apply the results to other kinds of learning communities.
Discuss the differences between the communities that start
with a theoretical vs. pragmatic approaches
Compare the use of synchronous and asynchronous
communications methods.
Discuss how instructors and others can feel comfortable
sharing their materials.
Share the plans for the future of these seven communitiesSlide 4
Logistics
Each panelist represents a different academic discipline and
will take 5-7 minutes to share his/her learning around a
specific area of communities of practice.
We will start discussions after the presentations
Slide 5
Joanne Mu Joanne Munroe
Community: Organic ChemistryEmphasis: Learning Communities and Communities of Practice (Cox, 2004; Wenger, 1998; Wenger, White, and Smith, 2009)
Slide 6
Una Daly
Community: Educational PsychologyEmphasis: Collaboration & Remixing
Curriculum DriversSmall programsVaried majorsState licensure
Slide 7
Connexions textbookDrs. Seifert & Sutton
Online collaboration
Reorder, remix, authoring tool.
Online repository
Slide 8
Slide 9CC BY-SA Some rights reserved by Gideon Burton
Bill BuxtonCommunity: EconomicsEmphasis: Pragmatic, Participatory, Permanent, Powerful
Slide 10
Bill Buxton, Founder, Textbook Equity
EconomicsPrimary (seed) Open Textbook:
“Microeconomics”, by R. Larry Reynolds, Professor, Boise State University. (2011) CC-BY-NC-SACurrent Ancillaries:
15 Interactive Excel® models 6 Flash® modules with voice over 2 Quicktime® movies with voice over 13 Powerpoint® lectures Math and calculus reviews Topics in PDF and Word® formats Homework and exam examples with answers
Slide 11
Teamwork
Slide 12
“Corequisites” for Success
Lynda Lambert
Community: College WritingEmphasis: Starting from Scratch
Author/Facilitator
Goals:To get unbiased opinions on the usability of an unpublished, as yet un-adopted bookTo create ancillary materials on a course site that could then be accessed and used by adopters.
Slide 14
Goals Achieved?At this point....
There has been some feedback on the book from three people, with minor suggestions.
There was an attempt to offer a possible ancillary, but the posting caused technical problems that tied us up for 3 weeks.
Slide 15
Things learned so far
A larger, more varied pool of possible participants will help move us forward.
Asking for a specific response is better than asking for a general contribution.
Specific tasks do-able in short timeframes are best.
Methodical, regular contact and updates are a necessity to keep things going.
Slide 16
If you’re interested...For those in the audience who are interested in joining this Learning Community, you can begin by taking a look at the book on which it is based, Deconstructing American English, at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XtU840Cftqmsq6fOAxowW9pZT58N-CQV4LZhZfZ_sc4/edit?authkey=CNqNkpIG&hl=en_US&pli=1
Slide 17
Barbara IllowskyCommunity: StatisticsEmphasis: Author responses to inputs & evolution
Slide 18
Barbara IllowskyPDF: free always! (download and/or print)
QOOP: hard copy of pdf – purchase ( <$30)
Connexions: free (Web 1.0)
Kno/20 Million Minds: $4.99 enhanced with interactive multimedia (Web 2.0)
WebAssign homework system: $25
iTunesU: free chapter videos
Slide 19
Navigate table of contents
Click here to print out
Key term links to definition
Slide 21
Jacky Hood: Four Communities with Varied
Challenges
Accounting: great book, publisher support challenge: fledgling communityMath: excellent book, many adopters, excellent Subject Matter Expert challenge: no facilitatorSociology: great tool and structure, huge opportunity challenge: only four adopters, noneavailable to manage communityProject management: large well-qualified community, three great tools, challenges: writing a 1000-page textbook, funding, business model
Slide 22
Discussion
Tell us about your needs …
Join the College Open Textbooks Communityhttp://collegeopentextbooks.ning.com
With generous support from DynamicBooks