This section offers guidelines and suggestions on outlining, compiling, and writing your OER textbook and materials. The Outlining guide includes 5 rules of textbook development, structuring your open textbook, and a textbook outline. The Compiling guide includes suggestions on collecting, organizing, and naming files and resources, version control of files and resources, and making sure everyone who needs access is able to access the files and resources. The Writing guide includes suggestions on consistency in tone, audience, planning for multiple learning styles, and sample style sheets, as well as information on glossaries and indexing.

Table of Contents: Outlining, Compiling & Writing

• Outlining
  • Five Rules of Textbook Development
  • Defining Content Structure
  • Defining Element Structure
  • Textbook Outline
  • Best Practices
• Compiling & Research
  • Managing Assets – Open Textbook Network
  • Standardization & Access
  • Research
  • Citation vs. Attribution
  • Resources: Only the Open
  • Resources: Search and Find
  • Embedding and Linking
  • Using Screenshots of Software
• Writing
  • Ten Tips for Authoring Success
  • Writing Process
  • The Writing
  • Writing Recommendations
  • Consistency In Tone
  • Consistency In Captions
  • Chapter Prototype
  • Style Guides
  • Create a Style Sheet
    • Style Sheet Prototype
  • Accessibility, Audience, Learning Methods & Styles
    • Video Guides to Accessibility
    • Accessibility — Open Textbook Network
    • Lessons Learned in Accessibility Through the BC Open Textbook Project
  • Glossaries & Indexing

Outlining

This section includes “Five Rules of Textbook Development,” from BC Campus, “Defining Content Structure,” and “Defining Element Structure,” from the Open Textbook Network, and “Textbook Outline” from BC Campus. It also includes best practices for lesson planning, content planning, assessment, and test banks.

Table of Contents: Outlining

• • Five Rules of Textbook Development
  • Defining Content Structure
  • Defining Element Structure
  • Textbook Outline
  • Best Practices

Five Rules of Textbook Development — BCcampus

The below list, adapted from Wikibooks, provides five rules that help guide the development of a good textbook.

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 indices 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 the characteristics of new elements as they are presented 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.

Attributions

The content in this chapter comes from Wikibooks:Textbook considerations and is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 Licence.

Long Descriptions

5 Rules of Textbook Development long description:

1. The rule of frameworks means maintain a consistent structure. The text can best aid understanding by making this framework visible early on.
2. 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.
3. The rule of manageable numbers means limit the amount of new information introduced at one time.
4. 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 the should be explicitly connected to the foundational material.
5. 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.

Defining Content Structure — Open Textbook Network, Melissa Faldin & Karen Lauritsen

Now that I’ve completed the process of writing an open textbook, there are a few changes I would make if I were starting over. For one, I would take more time to make a detailed outline of the entire text. I was so overwhelmed by the process of writing that I just wanted to jump in before I got cold feet, but it made writing the first few chapters a bit challenging. As I went on, I got better about taking the time to map out the entire chapter thoroughly before writing and it actually made the writing easier. Thinking more broadly, I would just go into the project with more confidence, knowing that the time spent writing and editing the text was absolutely going to be worth it. — Caitie Finlayson, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Mary Washington. Author of World Regional Geography (CC BY NC SA).

What goes into a textbook? How is it structured?

We will use two categories of terms:

• Book Structure: How the book is organized on a high level.
• Book Elements: Internal components of a book that may be replicated within the overall structure. See the next chapter for more on elements.

Fleshing out the basic structure of your book allows you to address the matter of consistency. Creating consistent, repeatable, expected content for student readers provides a better learning experience. It also allows you to consistently frame how the materials will be taught.

While defining your content structure outline, it may be helpful to keep in mind what pre-requisite knowledge the students will have prior to using your book, what your anticipated time constraints are and where your students will go next. You may find that your structure is modified after you begin to include elements.

This list is meant to assist in the process of creating your structure. It is in no way exhaustive and many categories of content may be known by different terminology.

Structure

• Cover Page
• Legal Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Unit
• Chapter
• Section
• Sub Section
• Bibliography
• Resources
• Appendices
• Index
• Teachers Edition Materials

Defining Element Structure — Open Textbook Network, Melissa Faldin & Karen Lauritsen

After you have created a general outline for your book structure (in the previous chapter), look to the common elements within that structure.  Elements, just as structural components, should be fairly consistent throughout your book.

It is at this point when you might start to look for matches among existing content. For example, do you have a case study that can be used for each unit or chapter you are creating? If you only have one case study you intend to use, can it become a chapter in itself? Does it belong in the appendices? As you build your elements, you may find that your overarching structure is modified as well.

This list is meant to assist in the process of creating your elements. It is in no way exhaustive and many categories of content may be repeated with different terminology.

Elements

• Headings
• Titles
• Objectives
• Overview
• Introduction
• Body
• Graphs
• Images
• Tables
• Maps
• Sidebar
• Key Terms
• Vocabulary Terms
• Practice Questions
• Example Sets
• Answer Keys
• Key Takeaways
• Summary
• Conclusion
• Case Studies
• Quiz

Tip! Use Post It notes or half sheets of paper to brainstorm structural components. It gives you the ability to shift the order of the components. When finished, an outline of the book is clearly visible. It may be helpful to keep structural components of the book on colored paper and elements on plain paper. Working at a distance? Think about using organization tools such as Trello or Libreboard. See the chapter on authoring tools for more examples.

Textbook Outline — BCcampus

Before you begin writing, create an outline that details the topics to be covered in your textbook and how they will be organized in a table of contents. Consider the type of students who will use your textbook and the course level and program for which the textbook is intended. Taking time to consider the audience and classroom will direct the tone and complexity of your writing. As such, it should be scheduled in your project timeline. This vital step will save time and money, reduce mistakes, and hopefully result in a more useful, engaging textbook.

Details and decisions

An outline is most useful when it includes all the details needed to build and arrange your book. Recruiting a copy editor at this early stage, someone who can ensure that all elements and layout are covered, will save time later in the project. The copy editor can also assist you with selecting a style guide and setting up a style sheet, which they will reference during the copy-editing and proofreading phases.

Front matter

The front matter is the introductory section of your textbook and the first thing readers see. If you’re using an authoring platform such as Pressbooks, the system will set up some of these sections for you, including a copyright page and a table of contents. The following table lists the items typically included in the front matter and the order in which they appear. While most open textbooks will have many of these elements, very few will have all of them. Only include the sections relevant to your textbook.

Body

As you shape the content of your textbook’s main body, ask these questions:

• How will the main body be divided? Indicate if parts or units will be used.
• Will each chapter include chapter sections? (If chapter sections are included in the table of contents, it is easier for students and other instructors who might use your textbook to see at a glance the textbook’s content and navigate through the book.)
• Will numbering and/or titles be used to identify parts, units, chapters, and chapter sections? If possible, include these in the outline. (Titles and numbering can be changed in the final draft, but establishing working titles helps during the organizational phase.)
• How long should the book be? Estimate the word count for the entire book, and then break this number down into individual chapters.

Next, consider the layout, style, and length for each chapter and chapter section. Decide what elements to incorporate such as:

• Learning objectives or outcomes that align with the textbook content, typically identified at the beginning of each unit, chapter, or chapter section
• Chapter introduction
• Exercises, essay questions, practice quizzes, or other methods for the student to self-test during reading or for the instructor to use for grading
• Key terms, highlighted and defined throughout the textbook; some authors summarize these in a Glossary placed in the back matter
• Chapter-end summary or list of key points or key takeaways
• Suggested/additional reading lists at the end of each chapter or in the back matter
• Resources (photos, illustrations, diagrams, graphs, charts, tables) and how they will be labeled, numbered, and captioned. Will these items be original creations or retrieved from external sources?
• Multimedia (videos and audio clips) for online textbooks. Will these be embedded or will a link be provided? How will these elements be labeled, numbered, and captioned? Will transcripts be provided to ensure accessibility? Will you offer editable files? (See the BCcampus Open Education Accessibility Toolkit [New Tab].)

Estimate the amount of time needed to create each item for each chapter or chapter section — and then double it. The majority of self-publishing authors underestimate the amount of time required to write and produce or collect resources and multimedia. If tasks are completed ahead of schedule, bank this extra time for other delays later on. Ask your copy editor to include the above items on their review list.

Back matter

Items at the end, or as part of the back matter, of a textbook are typically supplements to the main text.

Attributions

Front Matter and Back Matter tables: Some of this information was taken from Book design on Wikipedia and is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.

Quiz: Outlining

Best Practices

Considerations for best practices and making the best use of OER textbooks and materials include the following topics:

• • Lesson planning
  • Content planning
  • Assessment
  • Quiz Banks

For a quick guide to lesson planning and sample lesson plan templates, check out this COE Jumpstart lesson building website from  the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

A quick guide to course design assessment, the Specific Review Standards from the QM Higher Education Rubric,
Sixth Edition, from Quality Matters can be found here.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Assessment and Curriculum Development Office offers resources for assessment and curriculum development, including learning outcomes assessment for improvement. See this page for student learning outcomes best practices. For designing student outcomes for co-curricular programs, see this page. See here for guidelines to Develop Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). This site offers a list of verbs commonly used in learning outcomes and a breakdown of elements of learning outcomes, including a verb, learning outcome, and criterion. See here for guidelines on using rubrics.

Bloom’s Taxonomy can be helpful in designing student learning outcomes as well.

COE Jumpstart also offers guidelines on authentic assessments that ask students to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate their application of what they learn in your course, as well as present opportunities for creativity.

The UH Mānoa Office of Undergraduate Education Learning Assistance Center offers learning handouts for students that can also be helpful to faculty designing quizzes, test banks, and other assessments. Handouts include using reading skills in multiple choice questions, a list and explanation of important words in essay questions, a checklist to detail what you know about the test, and a worksheet on how to study and prepare for exams. For quick guidelines on best practices for writing quiz and test questions, see this worksheet from the Center for Teaching at the University of Iowa, this short article from Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) at the University of Michigan, and this PDF from the University of New Brunswick.

Quiz: Best Practices

Compiling & Research

Table of Contents: Compiling & Research

• • Managing Assets – Open Textbook Network
  • Standardization & Access
  • Research
  • Citation vs. Attribution
  • Resources: Only the Open
  • Resources: Search and Find
  • Embedding and Linking
  • Using Screenshots of Software

Managing Assets – Open Textbook Network

Faculty are used to borrowing liberally, especially from something like Google Images, for their course content and slide decks. Getting them to understand that they should use openly licensed images, and that they should look for and reuse existing openly licensed content, is surprisingly challenging. Faculty seem to understand attribution and copyright when it comes to text, but images seem to be fair game for many of them! The nuances of all the content they usually bring together to produce their course content can present some interesting challenges, both in how to explain best practices about open publishing to faculty, and how to successfully find openly licensed replacements that help faculty reach their educational goals for their students. — Shane Nackerud, Technology Lead, Library Initiatives, University of Minnesota Libraries

In most cases, asset management is a crucial component to not only the production of your book, but your legal compliance as well.

As you seek resources, be them text, images, graphs, maps or other materials, consistently document as much as possible about the resource. Not only will this assist in any future updates or modifications to your textbook, but the information will be vital as you provide proper attributions.

Building asset management into your writing process may also be beneficial. For example, if writing as a group, one individual may be tasked with seeking out a list of items to be included and obtaining all material information.

Information to document should include:

• Given resource name
• Type of material (ex. video, image, website)
• Link to resource
• Description of resource
• License type*
• Author/owner
• Title to be used in textbook
• Caption
• Location in work (ex. Chapter 2, Section 2.5)

* Special attention should be paid to license type when dealing with asset management. Some Creative Commons license types do not allow for mixing with others and will effect what resources can ultimately be used. Using a spreadsheet to manage assets allows for quick and easy review of such issues. For more information see Understanding Open Licenses.

Standardization & Access — UH Mānoa

Other aspects of compiling to be aware of:

• Collecting Files & Resources
• Organizing Files & Resources
• File & Resource Naming conventions
• Version Control of Files & Resources
• Access to files & Resources
• Resource Curator Prototype

When you begin collecting files and resources for your OER textbook, make sure to organize materials you find in a way that you and your team will be able to easily find and use. Also make sure to establish a naming convention for files and resources, as well as a standardized listing of the sources, copyright data, and other metadata for the resources. A best practice would be to create a resource curator. One way to do this is to create a spreadsheet listing the key information, such as name of the resource, website or source where it can be found, copyright and reuse details, author details, and where and how you plan to use the resource in your OER textbook. Other useful information might include a description of the resource, author contact for the resource, notes, and a column to indicate whether you ended up using the resource in your OER textbook.

A resource curator template file in google sheets is available at this link. You can save a copy to your own google drive to use it for your own purposes.

Quiz: Compiling & Research

Research — BCcampus

The writing portion of a textbook begins with research. In some cases, collecting and organizing the research can take longer than the actual writing. However, it’s time well spent by both you and your contributing authors, especially if it’s done well and thoroughly.

Like any scholarly work, it’s important to choose appropriate sources when conducting research for a textbook and then cite or attribute them correctly. The UBC Library Research Help [New Tab] page offers valuable step-by-step advice. For example, in a section entitled “Evaluating Information Sources,” their response to the opening question of “Why Evaluate?” is:

You will need to evaluate each resource you use for research, whether it is an online or print journal article, a website, a book, a newspaper article, or other source that you want to cite. Use the questions in this guide to analyze materials and to assess how appropriate they will be for your research. Keep in mind that many publications have a particular bias or agenda, which may not be obvious at first glance.

In addition, the following steps may help as you gather research and resources.

1. Write down the knowledge you have accumulated on your textbook’s topic. If you’re an instructor, it’s likely this information is part of your course package or curriculum notes, or something you talk about in the classroom. However, unless this information is common knowledge or based on original research, you must cite it.
2. Look at other open textbooks on the same or similar topics to see if they contain sections/chapters that can be adapted or used in your book. (See the Open Textbook/OER Directory [New Tab].)
3. Before you expand your search, read these three sections: Resources: Only the Open, Resources: Search and Find, Resources: Captions and Attributions
4. If possible, follow resources — be they text or images — back to the original source so you’re confident that they are truly openly licensed.
5. Keep concise records of all sources you reference and cite in your textbook, including journal articles (online and off), newspapers, books, government documents, reports from a private organization, conference proceedings, dissertation, online lecture notes, email, blogs, wiki, websites, and video podcasts.
6. Note the date when accessing an online resource and its URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or web address.
7. Record all the information you will need to cite a resource properly. Purdue University’s Online Lab (OWL) [New Tab] provides very good research and citation resources for writers.
8. If your research requires conducting interviews, record them. Consider asking the subjects you interview to sign an interview consent and release form (see word file below). Taking these steps clarify for the interview subject the purpose of the interview and how and where their words will be used.

Quiz: Research

Citation vs. Attribution — BCcampus

Outside ideas and information provide evidence that build an argument or lay the foundation for a textbook’s topic. A strong textbook will appropriately reference these sources, showing the student reader where information and ideas that do not originate with the open textbook author come from. This should be done for both restricted and open works through citations and attribution statements. Use this as an opportunity to show students by example how a scholar respects and shares information from other sources.

Even though they share characteristics, citations and attributions play different roles and appear in different places. This chapter defines citation and attribution, explains how and when they should be used in an open textbook, and discusses their purposes, similarities, and differences.

Citation

A citation allows authors to provide the source of any quotations, ideas, and information that they include in their own work based on the copyrighted works of other authors. The Oxford Living Dictionary defines it as a “…quotation from or reference to a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholarly work.”

Citation is a common and long-time practice among scholars used to indicate where a resource is from and who the author is. Unlike an attribution, citation is typically used for copyrighted works with restricted rights or “all rights reserved.” In other words, it is used in works for which broad permissions have not been granted.

As a scholar and potential author of an open textbook, we assume that you are familiar with the rules around citation. However, the article Warning: When You Must Cite [New Tab] from the Yale Center for Teaching and Learning provides some guidance about how, what, and the amount of a work that can be cited.

Attribution

Attribution is the cornerstone condition when using a resource or text released with an open-copyright license. This legal requirement states that users must attribute — give credit — to the creator of the work.

In a CC BY license, the “CC” stands for “Creative Commons” and the “BY” stands for “Attribution,” or who the work is “by.”

An attribution statement is used to provide credit to the original creator; its purpose is similar to a citation. Best practice says that the statement should include the title of the work, name of the creator, and license type (with links to each). When using text from another open educational resource, be clear in your attribution statement what section of your textbook contains this information.

A useful tool to help create attribution statements is the OPEN Attribution Builder [New Tab] by Open Washington.

Differences

Citation and attribution serve different purposes.

• Citation is used for academic reasons in order to give credit to a colleague for their work as part of academic integrity. It’s also used for legal reasons. Attributing an open work fulfills the legal requirement of the open-copyright license, which requires you to give credit to the creator of the work.
• Citation is used for restricted works where the copyright holder does not share the rights of the copy with the general public. The opposite is true for cases where attribution is used.
• Citation legally protects an author who wants to refer to someone else’s work and to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement. The author of an open work has given advanced permission for others to use their work.
• When referencing a restricted work with a citation, one must be careful about the amount referenced. Both direct quotations and paraphrasing are permitted. All of an open work may be used with no limitations; attribution is used to give the author of this work credit.
• The closest one can come to altering a restricted work is to paraphrase the original author’s ideas and expression of these ideas. Whereas the author of an open work has provided advanced permission to use AND change their work (except in cases where ND — NoDerivatives —  has been applied).
• Citation styles are varied and established. They dictate how to cite or reference a paraphrase or quotation within text (e.g., with an in-text citation or footnote) and how and where to provide the full reference, whether it be in a reference list, a works cited, or a bibliography and the end of a book.
• The styles for attribution statements are still emerging. Current best practice for an attribution statement states it should reside on the same page (digital or printed) as the resource it refers to. Statements can stand alone, e.g., within the caption of an image, or in a list at the bottom of the page.

The following table summarizes the differences between citations and attributions.

Similarities

There are also similarities between a citation and attribution.

• Both can be — and often are — copyrighted.
• Both give credit to the creator of the original work
• For both restricted and open works, the author or creator of a work might be different from the copyright holder. For example, if a faculty member writes an open textbook, their institution might hold copyright. However, it’s standard practice to attribute the creator – not the copyright holder – in the attribution statement.
• Both can be used for either a newly created work or a revised work
• Both can be used when referring to a portion of another work, though the amount that can be cited from a fully copyrighted work is substantially less than what can be used from an open work
• Both can be used when building an argument or the foundation of a textbook

Tables: A special case

When BCcampus Open Education began publishing open textbooks, we discovered that there were few openly licensed tables that our authors could use. So, with the help of our copy editors, we developed a way to present information in a table format without violating copyright.

We learned during our research that a table is comprised of two parts:

1. The style or layout of the table, which displays the information. These elements can include the size, placement, and color of the cells; the style of fonts; and the wording and placement of column and row headers.
2. The data or information contained within the table

Our solution was to instruct authors to create an original table, and then cite the data added to that table. As you can see in the below example from Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality in B.C., we provided the source for the data in the last row in the table. For clarity, we labelled this in-text citation as “Data source.” Alternatively, you could add the source information to a footnote.

The original table, created by the author or a designer working with the author, is an original creation. Because of this, no attribution statement is required.  The table design is copyrighted by the author (or designer). However, as the data comes from an external source, it requires a citation. This same process can be applied to charts and graphs.

Citation-Attribution Fusion

The libraries at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops have come up with a clever solution to the citation versus attribution dilemma. In the Crediting Images found Online section of their APA Citation Style web page, they suggest modifying the APA citation style so it incorporates open license or public domain information for the image’s caption and reference. Here is an example.

The image and its caption would appear like this:

 

The corresponding reference would be laid out like this:

Vernon, A. (Photographer). (2007). Yellow-bellied marmot pups – Kamloops, BC [digital image]. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons website: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yellow-bellied_Marmot_pups_-_Kamloops,_BC..jpg

Attributions

1. The concepts and portions of this text have been taken from Quill West’s presentation for Pierce College called Citations vs. Attributions. And how to deal with them in your work and is used under a CC BY 4.0 License.
   
2. Table 2.1 by Morgan Westcott is used under a CC BY 4.0 License.

Quiz: Citation vs. Attribution

Resources: Only the Open — BCcampus

If you are writing a new textbook (or other open educational resource) or adapting an existing one, it’s important that all of the content meets open-copyright license requirements or is in the public domain.

Is your material really open?

As the author and publisher of an open textbook, you have agreed to release your work with an open-copyright license. However, open educational resources often include materials from external sources. And it is the licensing conditions of these items that must be carefully examined before incorporating them in your open textbook. Follow the below steps to ensure that all material you find on for your book is open. Don’t assume that any item posted on the internet is free or free to use.

1. Look for the copyright notice. This information lists the copyright symbol (the letter C inside a circle) or the word “copyright” followed by the year in which the work was created, and therefore copyrighted, and the name of the copyright owner.
   1. NOTE: A copyright notice does not automatically mean that a resource is not permitted in an open textbook. In fact, most open resources are copyrighted.
   2. Here is an example: Copyright 2018 Lauri Aesoph.
2. Look for a statement of rights. This statement outlines the conditions of use or permissions granted by the copyright holder — for example using a Creative Commons license —  and is part of the “copyright notice”.
   1. If not included, it can be assumed that the copyright holder grants no permissions and that “all rights are reserved”.
   2. Here is an example of a copyright notice that includes a statement of rights for an openly licensed resource: Copyright 2018 Lauri Aesoph. This guide is released under a Creative Common Attribution 4.0 International License.
3. If the copyright notice, and statement of rights aren’t immediately apparent on a website, look for this information on web pages marked as “Terms and Conditions”, “Permissions”, etc.
4. If you can’t find a copyright notice, statement of rights, or licensing information, don’t use the material.
5. Even if a website is labelled as open, unless the material is clearly marked with an open-copyright license or uses a public-domain marking, don’t use it.
6. If a resource is in the public domain because its copyright has expired or a work has been designated to the public domain, look for language or a logo that makes this clear.
7. Don’t assume that an old image or text found online is in the public domain. It might be a secondary source or someone’s interpretation of the original item. For example, a photograph of a centuries-old painting may be copyrighted and have restricted rights.
8. Don’t use a resource for which one-time permission has been granted by the creator. (Creative Commons licenses permit unlimited usage). Instead, if you find material that you want to use but hasn’t been released with an open-copyright license, contact the creator and ask if they will consider doing so.
9. Keep track of all external resources added to your open textbook including where and when they were found.

Resources: Search and Find — BCcampus

There are literally millions of educational resources — photos, illustrations, videos and film, audio clips, courses, articles, research — that have been released with an open-copyright license or are in the public domain and available to open textbook authors and publishers. Below are online libraries, projects, directories, repositories, and websites where you will find both individual objects and full resources. If you have difficulty finding what you need, be creative and look for the desired item — photo, graphic, video — in an article from one of the many open academic journals or an open textbook. Another trick is to use several synonyms when searching for a hard-to-find resource.

Many sources contain items that range in user permissions from no copyright (e.g., in the public domain) to CC licenses to all rights reserved. Make it your practice to check every resource’s license or permissions before adding it to your open textbook. User rights have been noted beside some of the below sources.

Search and Find Resources – table of contents

Canadian collections

Mixed collections (open and restricted materials)

• Creative Commons (CC)
• Flickr
• Google

Government

• Canadian government websites
• U.S. government websites

Libraries, museums, and book collections

Subject-specific collections

• Art, culture, and history
• Broadcasting
• Music and audio
• Science and health

Type of resource

• Audio
• Courses, lectures, and lessons
• Games and interactive simulations
• Images: charts, clip art, graphs, icons, photos, symbols, vectors
• Maps
• Open academic journals
• Videos and film

Repositories

Canadian collections

• Canadian Museum of Nature [New Tab]: Collection data are available under a CC BY licence. Images are available under a CC BY-NC license.
• cIRcle [New Tab]: This OER repository is from the University of British Columbia. Each item is individually marked with copyright permissions.
• Images Canada [New Tab]: See Terms and Conditions [New Tab] for information about usage
• Library and Archives Canada [New Tab]: See Terms and Conditions [New Tab] for information about usage
• Open Collections [New Tab]: Check each item used in this collection, from the University of British Columbia, as permissions vary
• Project Gutenberg – Canada [New Tab]: Books that are in the public domain in Canada
• SOL*R (Shareable Online Learning Resources) [New Tab]: Higher education and government material from British Columbia and released under CC licenses

Mixed collections (open and restricted materials)

Creative Commons (CC)

• Content Directories [New Tab]: A list of organizations and projects released with CC licences
• CC Search [New Tab]: Images from multiple repositories.

Flickr

• Flickr – advanced search [New Tab]: Limit search to CC licensed materials only
• Flickr: Internet Archive Book Images [New Tab]: Check each item for permissions
• The Commons [New Tab]: Found on Flickr in partnership with The Library of Congress [New Tab]. Participants are cultural heritage institutions who share publicly held photography collections. There are “no known copyright restrictions” on the photographs in this collection. See Rights Statement [New Tab] for more information.

Google

• Google – advanced search [New Tab]: Limit search to CC licensed materials only

Government

Canadian government websites

Most government of Canada websites and publications [New Tab] are covered by the open government license. Here is an example of the Statistics Canada data license

Source: Statistics Canada, name of product, reference date. Reproduced and distributed on an “as is” basis with the permission of Statistics Canada

However, when using a resource from a Canadian government website or publication, always check the Terms of Use, Copyright, or similar page for details.

Often, images and other resources from a Canadian government website stipulates that the reused image or resource not be used for commercial purposes. If this is the case, then add this line to your attribution statement: “This image cannot be used for commercial purposes.”

U.S. government websites

Generally, the information and images found on U.S. government websites [New Tab] are in the public domain. However, when using a resource from a U.S. government website, always check the Terms of Use, Copyright, or similar page for details.

Libraries, museums, and book collections

Also see open academic journals and repositories.

• British Library [New Tab]: Check each item for permissions
• eBooks and Texts Archive [New Tab]: This website lists dozens of collections that contain free academic books, fiction and popular books, children’s books, and historical texts. Check each book for permissions before using.
• Europeana Collections [New Tab]: Digital resources of Europe’s museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections. Rights vary by item. For an overview of this collection, see Terms and Policies [New Tab].
• Hathi Trust Digital Library [New Tab]: Many items are in the public domain, but some copyrighted items have restricted rights. Check each item before using. The advanced full-text search [New Tab] allows searching by year of publication.
• Library and Archives Canada [New Tab]: See Terms and Conditions [New Tab] for information about usage
• MusOpen [New Tab]: Resources for teachers and students such as royalty free music and sheet music
• National Science Digital Library [New Tab]
• Petrucci Music Library [New Tab]y: Public domain music recordings and scores
• Project Gutenberg [New Tab]: Books that are in the public domain in the U.S. or U.S. copyrighted titles, for which the copyright holder has given permission for unlimited non-commercial worldwide use
• Project Gutenberg – Canada [New Tab]: Books that are in the public domain in Canada

Subject-specific collections

Art, culture, and history

• British Library [New Tab]: Check each item for permissions
• Library and Archives Canada [New Tab]: See Terms and Conditions [New Tab] for information about usage
• Metropolitan Museum of Art [New Tab]: Read the Met’s Open Access Policy [New Tab].
• Museum of New Zealand [New Tab]: Images available for reuse under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence [New Tab].
• New Old Stock [New Tab]: Vintage images
• Old Book Illustrations [New Tab]
• Public Domain Review [New Tab]: An online journal of works from the history of art, literature, and ideas
• Smithsonian [New Tab]: Free Sackler Gallery (images)
• Viintage [New Tab]: Vintage graphics in the public domain
• Wellcome Images [New Tab]: Images of current and historic human culture

Broadcasting

• Al Jazeera English [New Tab]: Quality footage of comprehensive news reports and debate; openly licensed as stated under their Terms and Conditions [New Tab]

Music and audio

• Audio Archive [New Tab]
• ccMixter [New Tab]
• Creative Commons suggestions [New Tab]
• Free Music Archive [New Tab]
• Free Sound [New Tab]
• Jamendo [New Tab]
• Juke Deck [New Tab]
• MusOpen [New Tab]: Royalty free music including sheet music, and resources for teachers and students
• Open Music Library [New Tab]
• Opsound [New Tab]
• Petrucci Music Library [New Tab]: Public domain music recordings and scores
• SoundCloud [New Tab]

Science and health

• BioMed Central [New Tab]: Open access biology and medical journals. Figures and graphs in articles are CC licensed and available for reuse.
• Bioscience Image Library [New Tab]: From Berkshire Community College
• Canadian Museum of Nature [New Tab]:Collection data are available under a CC BY license. Images are available under a CC BY-NC License.
• Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) [New Tab]
• Morphbank [New Tab]: Biology images
• NASA Images [New Tab]
• National Science Digital Library [New Tab]
• PhET interactive simulations [New Tab]: Math and science simulations from the University of Colorado
• PLOS [New Tab] (Public Library of Science)
• PubMed Central (PMC) Open-Access Subset [New Tab]: Search within journals marked with the OA symbol in the “Free Access” column for freely available articles
• Science Image [New Tab]
• Wisc Online [New Tab]: Images from Wisconsin’s Technical Colleges

Type of resource

Audio

See Music and Audio

Courses, lectures, and lessons

• Open Learning Initiative [New Tab]: From Carnegie Mellon University
• Khan Academy [New Tab]
• MIT YouTube channel [New Tab]
• MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) [New Tab]
• Open Course Library [New Tab]
• Open Education Consortium – Courses [New Tab]
• Open Yale Courses [New Tab]
• Saylor Academy [New Tab]
• webcast.berkeley [New Tab]: From the University of California, Berkeley
• Wisc Online: Basic Computer Skills course [New Tab]: From Wisconsin’s Technical Colleges

Games and interactive simulations

• PhET interactive simulations [New Tab]: Math and science simulations from the University of Colorado
• Play games [New Tab] and build games [New Tab]: Wisc Online from Wisconsin’s Technical Colleges

Images: charts, clip art, graphs, icons, photos, symbols, vector images

• Bing [New Tab]: Photos and videos
• Foodies Feed [New Tab]: Food photos in the public domain
• Gratisography [New Tab]: Photos in the public domain
• IM Free [New Tab]: Photos, vector images, and videos
• Images Canada [New Tab]: See copyright page [New Tab] for info about licences
• Inkscape [New Tab]: Professional vectors graphic editor, open source
• ISO Republic [New Tab]: Photos, vector images, and videos
• New Old Stock [New Tab]: Vintage images
• Noun Project, The [New Tab]: Icons and symbols
• Old Book Illustrations [New Tab]
• Open Clip Art Library [New Tab]
• Picjumbo [New Tab]: Photos
• Picography [New Tab]: Photos
• Pixabay [New Tab]: Photos and clip art
• Public Domain Vectors [New Tab]
• Startup Stock Photos [New Tab]
• Stokpic [New Tab]: Photos
• Superfamous Studios [New Tab]: Images
• Travel Coffee Book [New Tab]: Travel photos
• Unsplash [New Tab]: Photos
• Viintage [New Tab]: Vintage graphics in the public domain
• Wellcome Images [New Tab]: Images of current and historic human culture
• Wikimedia Commons [New Tab]: Photos, images, charts, and graphs
• Wikipedia [New Tab]: Look for photos within articles

Maps

• Open Street Map [New Tab]

Open academic journals

• Bio Med Central (BMC) journals [New Tab]: High quality peer-reviewed journals including broad interest titles such as BMC Biology and BMC Medicine, specialist journals such as Malaria Journal and Microbiome. Check each publication to ensure it’s open access.
• DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) [New Tab]: Community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals
• IRRODL (The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning) [New Tab]: A refereed, open access e-journal that disseminates original research, theory, and best practice in open and distributed learning worldwide, and based at Athabasca University in Alberta
• Open Praxis [New Tab]: A peer-reviewed open access scholarly journal focusing on research and innovation in open, distance and flexible education. It is published by the International Council for Open and Distance Education – ICDE [New Tab].
• PLOS (Public Library of Science) [New Tab]: A nonprofit organization with the goal of accelerating progress in science and medicine
• Public Domain Review [New Tab]: An online journal of works from the history of art, literature, and ideas

Videos and film

• Al Jazeera English [New Tab]: Quality footage of comprehensive news reports and debate that are openly licensed as stated under their Terms and Conditions [New Tab]
• Bing [New Tab]: Photos and videos
• IM Free [New Tab]: Photos, vector images, and videos
• ISO Republic [New Tab]: Photos, vector images, and videos
• Moving Image Archive [New Tab]: Movies, films, and videos
• TED talks (Technology, Entertainment, Design) [New Tab]: These presentations are released with the CC BY-NC-ND License
• Vimeo [New Tab]
• YouTube [New Tab]: Include CC BY when searching for videos. Items with a”Standard YouTube Licence” (covered in their Terms of Service [New Tab]) are not open. See YouTube’s article on how to add a CC licence to a video [New Tab].

Repositories

• Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) [New Tab]: Thousands of academic OER in a variety of languages
• cIRcle [New Tab]: This OER repository is from the University of British Columbia. Each item is individually marked with copyright permissions.
• Connexions [New Tab]: A repository of open educational resources started by OpenStax where faculty, students, and others can view and share these items
• Internet Archive [New Tab]: Wayback Machine: A digital archive of the World Wide Web and other information on the Internet. Do not assume that items are in the public domain or openly licensed.
• MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) [New Tab]: A curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community.
• OAlster database [New Tab]: Catalog of millions of OER
• OER Commons [New Tab]: A public digital library of open educational resources launched by ISKME — the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education — in 2007
• Open DOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories) [New Tab]: Quality-controlled list of academic open access repositories
• Open Education Europa [New Tab]: OER offered in a variety of languages for the European teaching community
• SOL*R (Shareable Online Learning Resources) [New Tab]: Higher education and government material from British Columbia and released under CC licenses
• Wikiversity [New Tab]: Learning resources, learning projects, and research

Quiz: Resources: Only The Open, Search & Find

Embedding and Linking

When an author is unable to find or create a needed video, image, or other item for their open textbook, they often ask if linking or embedding copyrighted material–for which all rights are reserved–is permitted. As a publisher of open textbooks, BCcampus Open Education has developed recommendations on this issue while taking into account the guiding principles and values behind open educational practices and resources.

Linking text

Linking to a website or deep linking to a web page does not require permission from the copyright holder and is not considered copyright infringement. However, linking to a website that obviously violates copyright law, such as one that hosts pirated music or films, should be avoided.

If an author decides to link to restricted material within their open textbook, it is recommended that descriptive text be used for the link so, if taken out of context, the reader knows exactly to what resource they are being redirected. This method also addresses accessibility requirements for linking.

• Example: Information on BCcampus Open Education is available online.

Embedding a video

Embedding–or inline linking–involves adding an embed code to a web source (such as an open textbook) that results an a visual representation–or streaming–of digital content, such as a video, from another web source, such as YouTube or Vimeo. This is a very popular practice because: 1) viewers don’t need to access a second website to watch the video and 2) the embedder doesn’t sacrifice bandwidth because the video data is stored on the original site.

The question for open textbook authors, however, is: Does embedding violate copyright infringement for videos not released with a CC or open license?

In his blog post, “Is it legal to embed YouTube videos in a blog post?” Kenny Novak answers this question with a summary of YouTube’s terms. He says: “…as long as YouTube’s terms permit it, any YouTube user can embed your content without needing to ask your permission, because you already GAVE them permission simply by uploading your content to YouTube.”

All videos shared on YouTube are assigned to one of two licenses.

• The Standard YouTube license is added, by default, to all videos uploaded to YouTube and set the conditions described by Novak above.
• A Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license is also available, but the user must manually make the change from a Standard YouTube license to the CC BY license by following these instructions. The CC BY license lets the video’s copyright holder give users advanced permission to copy, change, redistribute, and retain copies of the video.

Using Screenshots of Software

If you want to use a screenshot of software for an openly licensed work, as a general rule check the terms of a website, as they may spell out the rules of how to use screenshots of their products. Many companies are okay with using screenshots of their software or products for training. There are many “how to” websites that use screenshots, as there is a financial incentive for companies to have training material created for them by others. (The more people who learn to use their product, the better.)

If the software is open source [New Tab] or released under a free software license [New Tab], it is usually fine to use screenshots.

Microsoft spells out how you can use screenshots of their products as follows:

• You may not use screen shots of Microsoft product boot-up screens, opening screens, “splash screens,” or screens from beta release products or other products that have not been commercially released.
• You may use other screen shots in advertising, in documentation (including educational brochures), in tutorial books, in videos, or on websites, provided that, in addition to the requirements above, you:
  • Do not alter the screen shot except to resize it.
  • Do not use portions of screen shots.
  • Do not include screen shots in your product user interface.
  • Do not use screen shots that contain third-party content.
  • Do not use screen shots that contain an image of an identifiable individual.

Google allows the use of screenshots of their products. For more information, see Google’s Using Product Graphics page [New Tab].

Others, require that you ask permission. For example, see Yahoo’s Permissions page [New Tab].

Quiz: Embedding & Linking, Using Screenshots of Software

Writing

Table of Contents: Writing

• Writing
  • Ten Tips for Authoring Success
  • Writing Process
  • The Writing
  • Writing Recommendations
  • Consistency In Tone
  • Consistency In Captions
  • Chapter Prototype
  • Style Guides
  • Create a Style Sheet
    • Style Sheet Prototype
  • Accessibility, Audience, Learning Methods & Styles
    • Video Guides to Accessibility
    • Accessibility — Open Textbook Network
    • Lessons Learned in Accessibility Through the BC Open Textbook Project
  • Glossaries & Indexing

Ten Tips for Authoring Success — Open Textbook Network, Linda Frederiksen

This chapter was written by Linda Frederiksen, Head of Access Services, Washington State University Vancouver.

From generating awareness and finding partners, to developing and completing projects on time, to assessing and sustaining resources and funding, writing open textbooks can be both a highly rewarding and challenging enterprise. Based on conversations with authors and project managers who have successfully developed and produced open textbooks, this is a list of authoring tips for success. It describes practical and philosophical strategies for authoring, particularly in a higher education environment, and provides support for those considering this worthwhile and exciting prospect.

In early 2017, I contacted OER authors and project managers and asked:

Here I share the thoughtful comments and helpful tips each provided. Some of the suggestions may already be familiar to you. Other recommendations may be surprising or unexpected, and more than a few may inspire you to think more about your own authoring process. It is my hope that all of them will be helpful as you move from aspiring to successful open textbook author.

10. Good authoring begins with planning

Writing well takes time, patience, practice, and planning. David Lippmann is the author of Math in Society and co-author of Precalculus: An Investigation of Functions. He believes having a good plan in place before sitting down to write is critical to success. With a clearly thought out structure, including a fairly detailed table of contents, mapped out in advance, writing becomes much easier. He recommends spending 2-3 weeks planning the book structure, during which time authors can also think about purpose, audience, voice, technology, accessibility, distribution, and more.

Along these lines, Julie Lang the OER Coordinator at Pennsylvania State University, suggests asking yourself a very specific question: where are you going with the resource you’re writing? If your intent is to replace a commercial textbook, what are the learning goals and objectives for the course and what content will be needed for students to meet those objectives? Get those materials in place before you begin writing. In other words “think about the end as you begin.”

Both Lippmann and Amanda Coolidge, BCcampus Open Education Senior Manager and co-author of the BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit [New Tab], urge new authors to think broadly about who will read, adopt, or adapt your work. As Coolidge says, “Are you standing on the other side of the world from the reader?” And, if so, how should you plan for that? For example, in an online, blended, hybrid, open learning, or MOOC environment, will students in South Africa or Singapore relate to very specific or localized examples and scenarios or will these become barriers to learning?

9. It’s going to take longer than you think

Even with the best preparation, authoring an open textbook is not a fast or easy process. While all those I interviewed mentioned this tip in one way or another, a couple of comments stand out. Director of Open Oregon State Dianna Fisher has managed numerous open textbook projects, including bringing a popular geoscience text Living with Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest by Robert S. Yeats into a digital format. She says: “Even if you are taking content such as your class lecture notes – content that you think is fairly substantial, when you sit down to reformat those to read like a book, it still takes more time than you think it will.”

And, according to Lauri Aesoph, BCCampus Open Education Manager:

In my previous career I was a writer specializing in integrative medicine. For 15 years, I published hundreds of articles and wrote two books. When I work with new or even experienced faculty authors of open textbooks I tell them of my experience and then say: “Writing a book — any book — will take much longer than you expect. It will require more of your energy that you anticipate, and you will run into problems that you need to plan for.”

8. Share the load

Because of the time commitment involved in authoring an open textbook, several interviewees mentioned the benefits of working with others. Authoring is hard, often stressful, work, especially if you are trying to balance it with other equally important responsibilities. It may be that you can share the load by working with a librarian to identify what’s already available or asking a colleague to proofread and edit your work. Perhaps you can find a student or entire class to provide feedback on content or test ancillary resources. Whether it’s collaborating with a project manager who will keep you on track, an instructional designer to do the heavy technical lifting, or a contributor to write additional content, or all of the above, distributing the myriad tasks involved in open textbook publishing is better than trying to do everything yourself.

Quill West, an open education project manager in Washington State, and frequent OER presenter, believes strongly in the team approach to open textbook authoring. She says those who go it alone have a more difficult time getting the work done. Multiple authors make the work not only go faster but can provide important peer review along the way. West knows additional support also makes the content stronger. For any authoring project, it’s important to have a reviewer, project manager, or student reader who may be unfamiliar with a topic who can say, “I don’t understand that part, explain it to me.”

7. Do the prep work

When writing any learning resource: have a style guide. Create one of your own or find one elsewhere, but use one. Keep the same font, citation style, and – perhaps most importantly – voice throughout the resource. A good style guide makes the end product look better, read better, and be more credible. A style guide is particularly important if working with co-authors or contributors.

You should also know what Creative Commons (CC) is and how you are going to license your work. Nick Johns, an Enterprise Analyst with Lumen Learning, says new authors should have a working knowledge of Creative Commons and other open licensing models, a thought echoed by West when she notes the value of the CC BY license to the larger open community. If your intention is to share your work openly, then others have to be able to edit, revise, and adapt it. As she says “If you can’t edit it, you aren’t sharing it.”

6. Learn the ropes

This tip is about the publishing aspect of authorship. What kind of technology will you be using for authoring – Word? Google Docs? Pressbooks? If you are authoring something in the STEM field, how comfortable are you working with software that generates diagrams, formulas, charts, and complex tables? Lippmann suggests selecting the technology you will use  before, not in the middle of, the authoring process. Work in a format that you’re comfortable with and make sure the software and license allow for editing.

If you’re using Pressbooks either as an authoring tool or as the publishing platform for your open textbook, you should have some idea of how the software works or how content created elsewhere integrates with Pressbooks, and what to do when it doesn’t. BCcampus and other open textbook programs often provide the instruction needed. Aesoph says adequate training is necessary before starting, along with preparation for technical issues that may occur during the writing process. If your institution provides this type of training, take it.

Amy Hofer, the Statewide Open Education Library Services Coordinator for Oregon State and co-author of the forthcoming Transforming Information Literacy Instruction: Threshold Concepts in Theory and Practice, thinks composing in Word or Google Docs is fine, but at some point authors should set up the structure and formatting in the publishing platform. She suggests creating the first 10% of content in Word, then testing it in Pressbooks.

Hofer is also a strong proponent of setting up mechanisms or forms to keep track of sources. Too often, she says, new authors don’t plan for how they’re going to incorporate images, copyright-protected, or public domain works into content, making attribution at the end of the project more cumbersome.

Finally, don’t forget about accessibility. Mark-up language and alt tags are easy to incorporate as you go along, less so if you have to go back and add them later.

5. Beware of scope creep

If the scope of your open textbook is the amount of authoring required to successfully complete the project, then scope creep is the addition of content or features that were not in the original plan. Without a clear target or scope, projects can quickly become hard to manage. Both Lippmann and Mike Caulfield, the Director of Blended and Network Learning at Washington State University Vancouver and author of Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers recommend authors  avoid aiming for encyclopedic comprehensiveness.

It can require concentrated effort to stay focused. What will you include and what will you exclude? This is a significant and sometimes philosophical or political question. The need for clarity is especially important if working with co-authors and collaborators. BCcampus’ Aesoph and Coolidge recommend authors think about where to draw and hold the line on scope. They also say revisit the scope throughout the process, so that the project stays on track.

4. Don’t reinvent the wheel

As an open textbook author, you may have many goals. You may want to make college more affordable for students by replacing a commercial textbook; you may want a resource that more closely resembles how you teach; your department, university, student organization or state legislature may be strongly encouraging OER adoption or setting OER benchmarks. Whatever the motivation, spend some time looking to see what is already available. You may want to adopt or adapt an already existing resource. The beauty of OER is that it provides teachers, learners, and open textbook authors with the legal permissions to Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute a work (David Wiley [New Tab]).

Ashley Miller is the Affordability and Access Program Manager at the Ohio State Universities. In her experience, the best projects have been with faculty who “grasped the remix” by finding content and revising it. She says, “For faculty, the textbook publication lifecycle starts with a landscape evaluation in your discipline – what can you remix?” Or, as West says, “Look at what’s already out there. Make sure you’re not recreating the wheel for no reason. There is plenty of good stuff to start with.”

3. It doesn’t have to be perfect

In the same way that scope creep can stall a project, perfectionism can as well. Accept that there will be edits and revisions, and that one of the strengths of publishing in an open environment is the ability to gather feedback and make changes more quickly than in a traditional environment. Fisher says new authors should be ready for feedback, especially from students using the work, and that their comments and suggestions will make the work stronger. As Caulfield says, this is an opportunity to think about your book and your teaching in a different way than a textbook; it’s more modular than a traditional textbook and far more open to revision.

According to Miller, “it’s not really a textbook, it’s a growing, living document.” Lippmann recommends adapting the open software model of ‘release early, release often’ to ‘publish early, revise often.’

2. Think about ancillary resources

One of the early (and continuing) criticisms of OER has been the lack of ancillary resources. Question and test banks, solution manuals, slide decks, and multimedia tutorials are examples. According to Caulfield, these additional activities, exercises, and multimedia features are the ‘secret sauce’ of a successful project. If CC BY licensed, ancillary resources can be adapted by others who can then add local examples.

There are existing ancillary resources that you may want to add to your work. Lippmann’s MyOpenMath [New Tab] and iMathAS [New Tab] along with James Sousa’s Mathispower4u [New Tab] offer ancillary resources for mathematics instructors who want to adopt, adapt, or develop their own open textbook.

1. Embrace open

Creating an open textbook is an opportunity to embrace a new way to think about the teaching and learning experience. As Miller summarizes, the value of authoring an open textbook goes beyond student savings and becomes “just another way to support the teacher/student relationship and learning experience. So in that way, the deliverable is not an artifact like a textbook, it’s the (new and improved, and less expensive) teaching and learning experience.”

Rajiv Jhangiani is a University Teaching Fellow in Open Studies and Psychology Instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, a Senior Open Education Research and Advocacy Fellow at BCCampus, and the co-author of Research Methods in Psychology-2nd Canadian Edition and co-editor of Open: The Philosophy and Practices That Are Revolutionizing Education and Science.

To your question, “What Is The One Thing Every New Open Textbook Author Should Know?”, I would say that although constructing an open textbook is easier when you think about it in terms of a conventional textbook structure (e.g., sub sections within chapters that may also be grouped into sections), know that the most exciting elements of OER have to do with the greatest weaknesses of conventional textbooks. With an open textbook you have the ability to update content frequently, so write with this in mind (e.g., do not keep referring to one particular study as this may be replaced over time). Think about how you might take advantage of the digital platform by embedding interactive simulations, videos, and online activities. Consider how you can invite students into the process of OER creation, even if through personal application questions or small exercises. And finally, do not wait for your open textbook to be in some mythical “perfect” state before releasing it to the community. Pilot it, collect student feedback, and revise. Consider this an iterative process that you own. And if you are feeling a bit bolder, develop the textbook itself in the open, permitting and even inviting feedback from colleagues as you develop each sub-section. It may seem daunting to open yourself up to that level of scrutiny, but the resource will be far stronger for it. If you think about it, this is what the process of opening education is all about.

Writing Process — Open Textbook Network, Melissa Faldin & Karen Lauritsen

Writing a Draft

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Group Process

Commonly, open textbooks are authored by a group. This is either by design, as with a curriculum committee, or because of shared interest among colleagues. In either situation, when more than one person is writing, it helps to have clearly defined roles to expedite the process.

• If possible, bring 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.

 Common Group Roles

• Writer: Writes draft with consist 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 Writing

Writing a textbook that is coherent takes discipline, endurance, and determination. Depending on the length and subject matter of your book, you will need to carve out an extended schedule to think and write. The detailed outline and project timeline created at the beginning of a self-publishing endeavor will help guide your writing efforts.

We have worked with many faculty authors and watched as they attempted to write an open textbook off the side of their desks (and in the evenings and on the weekends). While possible, this approach is not ideal and certainly not fun. We tell authors-to-be that writing a book will be more time consuming and challenging than they can image. To help them prepare, we suggest they:

• Clear their personal and professional schedule as much as possible.
• Obtain release time, apply for a sabbatical, use vacation time, or take paid (or unpaid) leave that can be devoted to writing their textbook.
• Ask for help.

Mind control

Because writing is a creative process, it can feel incessant, occupying your thoughts night and day. Calm your frenzied mind by enlisting these practices.

1. Record stray ideas that come to mind when not writing to come back to later.
2. Keep a notebook by your bedside for middle-of-the-night thoughts that wake you up.
3. Brainstorm by recording as many ideas as possible on a specific topic or problem.
4. Begin each writing session with ten minutes of unedited scribbling to clear your mind and jump-start creativity.
5. Experiment with paper and pen. Some find this method assists with processing ideas.
6. Allow ideas to sit for a day before reviewing them for value.

Quiz: Ten Tips for Authoring Success, Writing Process, The Writing

Writing Recommendations — Open Textbook Network, Melissa Faldin & Karen Lauritsen

As an educator you write often, but writing a book can still be intimidating. As you start to write it is important to remember the famous line by William Zinsser, “writing is thinking on paper.” Or in this case, writing is teaching on paper. You may not be an author, but you are a teacher, and that gives you an expert advantage when it comes to the textbook authoring process.

When writing a textbook, it is important to consider the following elements:

• Tone: In what tone do you want to present your materials? How do you want the learner to react?
• Tense: Past or present? In most cases, non-fiction and news materials are written in past tense, and readers expect it.
• Consistency: Tone and tense should be used consistently throughout your writing. If using existing materials, adapt the materials to match tone and style, so that the work is cohesive.
• Quality: A work, no matter the strength of its ideas, will be judged on the quality of its execution. This means you’ll want to use proper spelling and grammar. There are many grammar guides and apps online to help with proofreading and review.

Consistency in Tone — BCcampus

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.

Assessing 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 (average and range). Try to maintain this count for both new and revised chapters. Ask your project manager for assistance, if required.

Consistency in 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, 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?

Consistency in Use of Resources

Resources refer to all items other than text, such as photos, graphs, diagrams and multimedia content (video or audio links). Pay attention to what types of resources the original author used, how often they are inserted and how they are labeled.

• Resources should have a caption (e.g. Figure 1 + description). See the Captions [New Tab] section for guidelines on how this are added and laid out.
• Differentiation between figures and tables. For example: 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, 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 will suggest the attribution be based on the layout recommended by Creative Commons (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Best_practices_for_attribution [New Tab])

References and Citation Style

When you assess the textbook, identify both the citation style, and how and where references are listed in the book (e.g., at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book), or as footnotes. Be sure to follow the same style. Note how in-text citations are used including the punctuation used.

Quiz: Writing Recommendations, Consistency In Tone

Consistency in Captions — BCcampus

When BCcampus Open Education began working with open textbook authors, we soon recognized that devising a standard method of captioning each non-text item in a book was critical. At the same, we were teaching authors the importance of recording the information needed to create a well-structured attribution statement for each open resource they borrowed. It didn’t take long to realize that we could use — and shape — a caption’s layout to help identify its resource in an attribution statement. In other words, the caption’s label could be part of the attribution statement. This chapter describes suggested formats for captions and attribution statements, and how the two can be used together so that the resources in a textbook are clearly marked and legally attributed.

Captions Table of Contents

Captions

• Figure captions
• Table captions
• Graph and chart captions

Attributions

• Who gets attribution for an image?
• Should items in the public domain be attributed?
• Attribution statements
  • Open-copyright license, no changes
  • Open-copyright license, changes made
  • Public domain: designated, no changes
  • Public domain: designated, changes made
  • Public domain: expired copyright, no changes
  • Public domain: expired copyright, changes made
  • No known copyright restrictions
  • Government websites and publications
  • Source statement
• Attribution-statement tools
  • Open Attribute
  • OPEN Attribution Builder
  • Commons Machinery

Captions

A caption is text that accompanies a figure, table, or other non-text resource within a work such as an open textbook. At BCcampus, we decided that the caption for each item should only contain the resource type label and number, and a description of the resource. If an item requires an attribution statements, it is placed elsewhere — typically in an “Attributions” list at the end of the chapter.

Separating the attribution statement and caption kept the caption clean and uncluttered. However, it also introduced a problem: how do we connect an item to its attribution statement? First, we determined that each resource type needed to be identified with a label. We selected “Table” for tables, and “Figure” for all images and pictures. That label is combined with a numbering system that incorporates the chapter number the item is found in and the item’s places in that chapter in relation to other items with the same label. For example, if a photograph is the third of four figures in Chapter 5, it would be labelled as “Figure 5.3.” This resource type and number appears in the caption, and it is used to identify the attribution statement.

Note that the sequence number of a resource label is resource specific. For example, if an item is marked as “Table 6.2,” this means it’s the second table in Chapter 6, not the second non-text resource. As such, you can have a Table 6.2 and a Figure 6.2 in the same chapter.

The content of a caption is written by the author to convey the significance of the resource and its relationship to text. Referencing the resource in the text body contributes to this connection. Authors are discouraged from using the resource title (assigned to the item by its creator) as a caption because this label is a key component of the item’s attribution statement. Using the same phrase as both resource title and caption can cause confusion.

See below for caption examples for the most commonly used resources in an open textbook. Refer to your style guide or make a decision about how you want to style the captions in your textbook and include these details on your book’s style sheet.

Figure captions

Format items to note in this example:

• The resource label (Figure 4.3) indicates that this is the third image in Chapter 4.
• No punctuation (period, comma, or colon) is inserted between the resource label (Figure 4.3) and description (The green discus fish shown in its natural environment).
• A period is placed at the end of the description even though it is an incomplete sentence.

Table captions

Format items to note in this example:

• The resource label (Table 2.3) indicates that this is the third table in Chapter 2.
• A colon and one space is used to separate the resource label (Table 2.3) from the description (Hotel revenue in British Columbia).
• No period is placed at the end of the description
• The caption uses sentence case to determine capitalization
• The data used in this table is cited using the label “Data source:” followed by an in-text citation (Johnson, 2013).

Graph and chart captions

Because graphs, charts, and other data-rich resources where the data is cited are often added images, you can choose to label them as “Figures” or as “Charts” or “Graphs.” For example, in the below graph found in Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Canadian Edition, the author has chosen to label it as a figure.

Attributions

Before looking at the details of how and where to place attributions or attribution statements, let’s answer a couple of questions that might influence how you proceed.

Who gets attribution for an image?

It is important to understand who to give credit to for an image. Frequently, especially for a work in the public domain, it is not the artist or photographer who created the original work. Instead, you must attribute the individual who created the version of the work that you are using in your book or educational resource. For example, a photograph of a painting is considered a secondary source, or interpretation of the original painting, and you will need to credit the photographer in the attribution statement, not the painter.

Below is a photograph of the famous painting Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci. In the attribution statement, credit is given to the photographer, not da Vinci. As such, the attribution statement should read: Mona Lisa by Dcoetzee is in the public domain. This also means that just because a work of art may be in the public domain, it does not mean that the reproduction of that work is in the public domain.

Should items in the public domain be attributed?

Resources for which copyright has been designated to the public domain by the creator do not require that attribution be given to the creator. However, as a best practice, we encourage still crediting the author or artist for the resources they created. Taking this extra step does many things:

1. It shows respect provides recognition for the individual who created and freely shared their creation.
2. It upholds academic integrity.
3. It ensures consistency in how a textbook is styled.
4. It leaves no doubt that the resource is open for use and provides future users with links and other information about the resource’s origins.

Attribution statements

This section provides sample attribution statements based on the most common rights and conditions under which open educational resources are released and used. Note that for resources in the public domain, the attribution statement changes depending on how the work ended up in the public domain. Attribution statements for resources that have been designated to the public domain by their creators are labelled as “Pubic domain: designated.” Items in the public domain because their copyright expired are labeled as “Public domain: expired copyright.”

Most of these attribution statement layouts are based on recommendations posted by Creative Commons [New Tab]. Here are the commonly used elements and information to be aware of.

• Resource type + number. This is the label that you assign to a resource based on its place in your open textbook or OER. It is generally placed in a resource’s caption, and it is an effective way connecting a resource to its attribution statement.
• Resource title. This is the title assigned to the resource by its creator. An attribution statement should contain the title of the resource with a link to the web page where the resource was found.
• Creator. This is the name of the individual who created the resource. An attribution statement should contain the creator’s name and (if available) a link to their profile page within the website or repository where the resource was found.
• Resource change. If you change a resource, including cropping a photo, this must be indicated in the attribution statement. NOTE: If the CC license covering a resource includes “ND” (NoDerivatives) as a condition, the item cannot be changed. This includes cropping.
• Copyright information. A link to a description of the type of license or other conditions that permit you to use this resource, should be provided as follows:
  • If the open-copyright license used is a CC license, link the license description to the ones provided on the Creative Commons website [New Tab].
  • If the creator has designated their work to the public domain and marked this work with a Creative Commons zero (CC0) logo or icon, link to the CC 0 page [New Tab] on the CC website.
  • If an item has been identified as having “no known copyright” with the Creative Commons public domain mark, link to the Public Domain Mark page [New Tab] on the CC website.
  • If an item is in the public domain and is not marked with a Creative Commons public domain logo or icon, we recommend linking to the public domain description from Wikipedia [New Tab] instead.
• Accessibility. Web accessibility guidelines state that if a link opens in a new tab or window, this should be marked (e.g., Creative Commons [New Tab]). However, because each attribution statement contains up to three links — and readers are less likely to open these links — it is not necessary or even advised to provide externally opening links for attribution statements. (See Links [New Tab] in the BCcampus Open Education Accessibility Toolkit.)

Open-copyright license, no changes

• FORMAT: Resource type/number + resource title “by” creator “is used under a“ license type.
• EXAMPLE: Figure 4.3 Dallas – Green Discus Fish by Drriss & Marrionn is used under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 License.

Open-copyright license, changes made

• FORMAT: Resource type/number + resource title “by” creator “has been modified (resource change) and is used under a” license type.
• EXAMPLE: Figure 4.3 Dallas – Green Discus Fish by Drriss & Marrionn has been modified (cropped) and is used under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 License.

Public domain: designated, no changes

• FORMAT: Resource type/number + resource title “by” creator “has been designated to the public domain (CC0).”
• EXAMPLE: Figure 5.5 Meadow by geralt has been designated to the public domain (CC0).

Public domain: designated, changes made

It is not required to include a description of a change when using a resource from the public domain. However, you can choose to include this information in your attribution statement.

• FORMAT: Resource type/number + resource title “by” creator “has been designated to the public domain (CC0). This item has been modified (resource change).”
• EXAMPLE: Figure 5.5 Meadow by geralt has been designated to the public domain (CC0). This item has been modified (cropped).

Public domain: expired copyright, no changes

• FORMAT: Resource type/number + resource title “by” creator “is in the public domain.”
• EXAMPLE: Figure 13.1 Walter Cronkite by NASA/Bill Ingalls is in the public domain.

Public domain: expired copyright, changes made

It is not required to include a description of a change when using a resource from the public domain. However, you can choose to include this information in your attribution statement.

• FORMAT: Resource type/number + resource title “by” creator “has been modified (resource change) and is in the public domain.”
• EXAMPLE: Figure 13.1 Walter Cronkite by NASA/Bill Ingalls has been modified (cropped) and is in the public domain.

No known copyright restrictions

• FORMAT: Resource type/number + resource title “by” creator “has no known copyright restrictions”(link to web page describing this condition).
• EXAMPLE: Figure 13.1 C.P.R. Mount Stephen House, Field, BC, 1909 by Musée McCord Museum has no known copyright restrictions.

Government websites and publications

If using images from a government publication or website, see content under the Government heading in the Resources: Search and Find chapter for details about attribution and licenses.

Source statement

If available, an optional source statement can be appended to the end of an attribution statement. It notes the type of source from which an open educational resource is curated, such as a museum collection, and is used when this information provides legitimacy to the textbook subject matter.

Source statement example: This image is available from the Toronto Public Library under the reference number JRR 1059.

Full attribution statement with source statement: Toronto Rolling Mills is in the public domain. This image is available from the Toronto Public Library under the reference number JRR 1059.

Attribution-statement tools

Attribution statements for resources can be added manually, as described above. However, there are a couple of browser add-ons [New Tab] that can help you capture the correct information for web-based Creative Commons licensed material. If you work with CC material often, take a look at these tools to make attributing content easier.

Open Attribute

Open Attribute [New Tab] is a browser add-on/plugin for Firefox and Chrome that gathers the CC license metadata on a web page and creates an attribution statement. This is how it works.

1. After installing this add-on, a small logo will appear in your address bar (see red arrow) when you go to a website that has CC licensed content on it (and importantly, the correct metadata).
   

   

2. Click on the logo to reveal a textbox with the title, source, and license of the selected website. When the “More Information” button (by the red arrow) is chosen, both basic (in plain text) and RDFa attribution statements (as HTML) are shown to select and use. The “All Data” button displays all attribution information for the chosen website.
   

   

The advantages of this tool are:

• There is no need to go to another web page and manually enter data into text fields.
• It is quick.
• It tracks all of the elements required for a complete attribution.
• It responds to the correct metadata connected with CC licensed content.
• It offers a Resource Description Framework in Attributes (RDFa) option, which is a W3C recommendation that adds a set of attribute-level extensions to HTML, XHTML, and  other XML documents for embedding rich metadata within web documents.

The disadvantages are:

• You must install the add-on
• If a website does not use CC metadata, this add-on will not work.

OPEN Attribution Builder

This tool was built by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and can be found at OPEN Attribution Builder [New Tab].  It is simple to use and provides descriptions of each field through the “?” icon.

The advantages of this tool are:

• It requires no installation
• Licenses and versions can be chosen with drop-down menus
• It provides the option to attribute a work that has been changed (adapted)
• Attribution statements available in plain text or HTML
• It creates a well-structured HTML attributions for resources without the correct metadata

The disadvantages are:

• It is located on a separate website.
• It doesn’t include CC metadata.

Commons Machinery

For a suite of plugins for Firefox and OpenOffice tools — many in beta — visit the Swedish-based website, Commons Machinery [New Tab]. Their attribution-statement tools enable the copying and pasting of images that already have the attribution information attached.

Quiz: Consistency in Captions

Chapter Prototype – From Ryerson University Open Textbook Authoring Guide

This link directs to a prototype of a chapter in Pressbooks format, including hierarchical heading styles and formatting. You can customize this to use as a chapter template for your own book in Pressbooks. See below for video guides to creating accessible documents in word, PDF, and other formats.

Style Guides — Open Textbook Network

This chapter is an adaptation of the Style Guide chapter in the B.C. Open Textbook Authoring Guide, created by BCcampus and licensed with a CC BY 4.0 license.

A style guide helps an author or group of authors be consistent when presenting content to readers. It also saves a lot of work down the line during copyediting.

This chapter focuses primarily on copy. For style considerations that focus on textbook elements, formatting, and layout, please see the chapters in Textbook Organization.

Existing Style Guides

You may want to select the style manual particular to your discipline (e.g., MLA Handbook, APA, Chicago Manual of Style). However, if you are adapting an existing book, you may want to use the citation style chosen by the original author. As you’re writing, try to adhere to the punctuation rules for the citation style you’ve chosen.

Punctuation

The following are a selection of standard punctuation rules:

• Use one space between sentences (not two) and after a colon.
• Do not capitalize the first letter of the first word after a colon unless the colon introduces two or more sentences.
• In displayed lists, always start items with a capital letter. Use end punctuation, such as a period, with full sentences only.
• Use North American system for quotation marks: periods and commas always go inside quotation marks; semi colons and colons go outside.
• Use double quotes for all quoted matters. Single quotation marks should be reserved to enclose quotes within quotes (e.g., Mark exclaimed, “You have driven a stake into my heart! Now I truly understand Caesar’s words, ‘Et tu Brute?’ How could you treat me so?”). Some exceptions to this system may be appropriate in specific disciplines.
• Place footnote numbers outside punctuation (usually a comma or period).
• Do not use periods in abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms,  (common exceptions are e.g., et al., etc., i.e.).
• Do not hyphenate Latin phrases used adjectivally: ad hoc proposal, post hoc analysis.
• For hanging hyphen constructions (15- to 19-year-olds), do not hyphenate after “to.”
• Don’t use a period after URLs when they end a reference list entry.

Commas, Commas, Commas

Most style guides use the serial comma. That means a comma placed immediately before the coordinating conjunctive (and, or, nor). Examples:

Serial comma: There were cows, horses, and pigs in the barn.
No serial comma: There were cows, horses and pigs in the barn.

Use commas in numerals over 999 (e.g., 1,000; 45,000).

Being Bold

Bold is reserved for key terms within the text body. It should not be used for emphasis.

Italics

• Use italics for words used as words (e.g., The term vocal cords is often misspelled. What do you mean by nexus?).
• Use italics for titles of movies, TV shows, and radio programs.
• Don’t use italics for bands and music channels.

Often words in other languages are italicized in a textbook. However, commonly used words or expressions do not require italics (e.g. ad hoc, vis-a-vis).

Dashes

Em dashes ( — )

• The em dash is the standard for breaking a sentence or setting off parenthetical statements.
• With em dashes, insert a space on either side.
• In Pressbooks, the em dash is created by using two hyphens. In the book view, two hyphens will look like one long (em) dash.

En dashes (-)

• There should be no space on either side of the en dash.
• Use an en dash when expressing a range of years such as birth to death, e.g., 1955-2001.
• Use between pages (213–223).
• Use an en-dash (50–100 mg) for number ranges in tables and parentheses.
• In Pressbooks, use one hyphen to indicate an one short (en) dash.

Measurements and Numbers

Your subject standards and primary audience will determine whether you use the metric (most of the world) or imperial (U.S.) system. For number ranges in text, use the word “to” (50 to 100 mg).

Use numerals:

• For 10 and greater.
• In addresses (Suite 2, 400 West Hastings).
• For dates (May 17, 1948 or 17 May 1948).
• As designators (day 8, chapter 10, page 9, protocol 5).
• In figure and table designations (Figure 3, Table 6).
• For money ($14, $9.97, 6 cents, US$200).
• For temperatures (20°C).
• For time of day (11 p.m., 2:45 a.m., 07:30–13:00 ).
• With units of measure (2 m, 7 in).
• With percent symbols (0.02%, 99%).
• With “million” and “billion” ($1 million, 9.4 billion units).
• For percentages, unless at the beginning of a sentence. Repeat the percentage symbol in a range or series (the incidence varied from 1% to 4%; 6% to 7% of cases).
• School grades (e.g., Grade 6).
• Use digits and abbreviations in measurements (e.g., puzzle boxes were 50 cm long, 38 cm wide, and 30 cm tall).

Spell out:

• Numbers one to nine.
• First through ninth ordinals unless they include a higher ordinal. Ordinals greater than ninth are expressed as numerals unless they occur at the beginning of a sentence (…in the 12th century, but Twelfth-century monks…). Acceptable suffixes are 21st, 32nd, 43rd, 54th.
• Fractions, in running text with a hyphen (e.g., two-thirds).
• Number and percent if at the beginning of a sentence (three percent).
• For temperatures, use Arabic numerals and the degree symbol (37.8°C).

Create a Style Sheet — BCcampus

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 [New Tab]. 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 [New Tab]. 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.
• MLA Style Manual [New Tab]. MLA (Modern Language Association of America) style is most frequently used to cite and style works in the literary and humanities fields.
• The Associated Press Stylebook [New Tab]. The Associated Press style is the standard for style guide for those working in the 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 copy editing and proofreading stages.

How to set up and use a style sheet

1. Download the above style-sheet template and fill out as much information as possible, including book title, author, copy editor, and proofreader.
2. Add or remove items as they pertain to your book. These might include:
   1. exercises (and how to format them)
   2. back matter and/or appendix information and how to label each
   3. key terms: how and when to highlight them in the text body and if they should be summarized in an end-of-book glossary
3. In addition to different or additional styles and formatting, you can list:
   1. styling issues included in the style guide, but repeated in the style sheet for easy reference
   2. the correct usage of grammar and spellings that are often inaccurate
4. 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.
5. 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.

Quiz: Chapter Prototype & Style Guides

Accessibility, Audience, Learning Methods & Learning Styles

Video Guides to Accessibility

This video, “Why Accessibility Matters,” from CSUN Academic Technology, offers a quick guide to accessibility and Universal Design for Learning. Ernie Perez, Director of Instructional Technology, explains how incorporating accessibility and universal design principles into your course is good for all students.

Transcript:

This video, “Microsoft Word and Word-to-PDF Accessibility Remediation (+ Word Power User Tips and Tricks),” by
UC Systemwide Talent Management, is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this video tutorial, we’re going to look at some of the techniques that go into making an accessible Word document and after it’s exported, an accessible PDF. You’ll observe these techniques in the context of making an existing document accessible—a process which, in the world of accessibility, you’ll often hear referred to as “remediation”—but these techniques could just as easily be applied to a document you’re creating from scratch. These same remediation techniques can help you become a Microsoft Word power user, so they’re well worth learning!

Video Table of Contents:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:42 Before We Get Started Notes
• 1:39 Show Paragraph Marks & Paragraph Breaks
• 3:11 Empty Paragraph Breaks
• 4:36 Headings & Adding a Heading 1
• 5:34 Update Style to Match Selection
• 6:56 Before Paragraph Spacing (a screen reader-friendly vertical spacing alternative)
• 8:14 Dividing Lines of Text with a Soft Return
• 9:18 After Paragraph Spacing (another screen reader-friendly vertical spacing alternative)
• 9:40 Modifying an Existing Style
• 10:44 Adding Heading 2’s
• 11:50 Image Alt Text
• 12:41 (Removing) Image Text Wrapping
• 14:00 Deleting More Paragraph Breaks and Converting Headings to Heading 2’s
• 14:10 Adding a Page Break
• 15:09 Adding a Table Header Row
• 15:37 Adding a New Text Style
• 16:26 Eliminating Merged Table Cells, Adding Heading 3’s & Creating a Two Column Section
• 18:31 Adding a Column Break
• 19:17 Splitting Merged Cells
• 19:50 (Removing) Table Text Wrapping
• 20:55 Don’t Use Tables for Layout Purposes (only use them for presenting tabular data)

This video, “Assistive Software Demo: Zoom Text, JAWS, and Dragon,” by DPRC at SF State, offers demonstrations of Zoom Text, Jaws and Dragon NaturallySpeaking conducted by students from CSU Long Beach. These demonstrations will assist educators in designing course materials and textbooks to work well with assistive software. Closed captioning is provided in the video.

This video, “Web Accessibility,” by Department of Social Services, Australian Government, addresses common misconceptions about web accessibility.

Transcript:

Web accessibility – What does it all mean?

Misconception: Web accessibility is about disability.
No, Web accessibility is about universality.

It’s about making something that can be used by as many people as possible: different environments, different devices, elderly, different cultural backgrounds, non-English speakers, impaired abilities.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2009, 18.5% of Australians had a reported disability, 8% of males had problems seeing colour, 15% of Australians were from a non-English speaking background and over 46% of Australian adults had low literacy skills.

We need to make our websites easy to use for everyone. The hearing impaired, those with limited mobility, those with reading difficulties and anyone using handheld devices.

Why? By making your content more accessible more people in more locations can read your information and they will understand it more easily. After all, you want everyone to get your message, right?

Accessibility is also a legal requirement.

Misconception: Web accessibility is not my problem.
No, Web accessibility is everyone’s responsibility.

We’re all in this together. What you do makes a difference. So what do people need?

People need content that is easy to read, works on different devices, is easy to navigate, has good design and colour contrast, images and graphs that are described well, has video captions or transcriptions and has documents and attachments in a format that can be used by everyone everywhere.

So how do you do it?

Think about your audience: Who are you writing for? Who is actually going to read it? What do they need to know?

Structure your content: Is your content in Microsoft Word? Have you used the templates and styles provided? Are your heading styles in the correct order?

Check your language level: Is it short and simple? Is there a plain language summary for any policy or legislation?

Think about alternative options: Are there text descriptions for your images? Do you have data tables for your graphs? Have you provided transcripts for your videos?

Do a quick check: Use the Word Accessibility Checker and correct things as you go.

Remember what you do at the start makes it easier at the end and your content gets published faster. Follow our guides and make it a habit. It’s all about your audience and meeting their needs.

Misconception: Web accessibility is hard.
No, Web accessibility is easy.

To learn more about accessibility, visit STAFFnet.

Statistics sourced from The Australian Bureau of Statistics — Disability Australia, 2009. 2006 Census of Population and Housing. Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey Summary Results, Australia, 2006

This video, “What is Digital Accessibility,” by Deque Systems, explains principles of digital accessibility.

Transcript:

Imagine if 90% of the websites or mobile apps you use today locked you out. Everyone else continues to experience the convenience of mobile banking, the connectedness of social media and the freedom of online shopping… but, for you, they’re inaccessible.

For the 57 million people with disabilities in the United States, this is their everyday experience. People with Visual, Auditory, Motor, Speech and Cognitive disabilities rely on various assistive technologies and alternate methods of interaction to use digital documents, web and mobile apps.

People with Visual disabilities may rely on screen readers, braille displays, zoom functions or high contrast colors to get value from what’s displayed on screen. People with Auditory disabilities often rely on captions or transcripts for video content. People with Motor disabilities might require speech-to-text software or keyboard-only interactions. People with Speech disabilities require a non-vocal means of interaction. And, finally, people with Cognitive disabilities often require thoughtful and organized layouts with clear direction.

Digital Accessibility is the practice of making digital documents, web and mobile apps accessible to everyone… including people with disabilities. Accessible sites and apps are:

• Perceivable (All visitors have a similar experience regardless of ability.)
• Operable (All controls and interactive elements are usable.)
• Understandable, (Content is clear, mitigating confusion and ambiguity) and
• Robust. (Content can be accessed with a wide range of technologies)

Building accessible sites or apps can be tricky without the right guidance. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG (wuh-cag), published by the W3C, is the standard rule set that defines what makes a site accessible. Developers, Testers, App Owners and Accessibility Experts from around the world rely on these standards for proper accessibility testing direction.

In fact, many US Federal Government agency sites and apps are required by law, under Section 508, to be accessible. This law includes the WCAG standard. In the US and European Union, WCAG is being adopted across private sector businesses as well. Whether you’re following legal requirements or proactively working to make the web a better place, practicing digital accessibility makes a REAL difference for millions of people.

To start making your site more accessible, try the free axe browser extension or reach out to your local accessibility community for other recommendations on where to start.

This video, “To Care & Comply: Accessibility of Online Course Content,” by PCC Videos offers a look at Portland Community College’s web accessibility guidelines and how supporting students with disabilities is a shared responsibility across the college. Video includes stories from students whose education is impacted by inaccessible web content and ways faculty and staff can improve online course materials to make course content more accessible. This is an OER (Open Educational Resource) with a CC-BY license.

Transcript:

Accessibility — Open Textbook Network

This section is adapted from Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need To Know [New Tab] (November, 2016) by the Open Textbook Network (CC BY). Special thanks to Krista Geear at the University of Washington for her contributions.

Making something accessible means making it available for a wide variety of people to access, including people with disabilities. Offering multiple formats of your open textbook is one key way to ensure greater access to it. Campus communities can also consult with their disability resource centers for guidance and assistance. Disability resource centers commonly facilitate student accommodations by ensuring access to:

• Portable electronic and large-type textbooks for people with mobility limitations or low vision.
• Read-aloud files for text-to-speech software for people with learning disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, or others who may benefit from listening to an audio text.
• Tagged texts, images, and tables to enable screen-reader navigation for people who are blind or low-vision. Tactile graphics and braille are also useful.

The EPUB format is often considered the most accessible for screen-reading software.

Here are three ways to improve accessibility of your open textbook:

• Ensure that digital text is machine-readable.
• Tag navigation elements, including headings and subheadings.
• Tag and describe images and tables.

If you have questions about open textbook accessibility, contact your disability resource center. You can also consult the DAISY Consortium’s guide to Making Publications Accessible for All [New Tab] and the International Digital Publishing Forum’s EPUB 3 Accessibility Guidelines [New Tab].

Testing and Generating Accessible Formats

If you want to test the accessibility of your open textbook, or convert your textbook into different formats, there are online tools you can use.

NonVisual Desktop Access [New Tab]: Free screen reader that enables user testing. It’s an open source, Windows-based software available in more than 40 languages.

PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC 2) [New Tab]: Free program displays a PDF preview in a web browser. The PAC preview shows PDF tags and presents the accessible elements as they’d be interpreted by assistive technologies. PAC also provides an accessibility report, which lists the detected accessibility errors.

DAISY Consortium’s Pipeline Download [New Tab]: Cross-platform, open source framework for converting text documents into accessible formats for people with print disabilities.

Additional Resources

Many of the following resources on making your open textbook accessible include step-by-step instructions. Further information on accessibility can be found at the following Open Textbook Network partner institutions:

• University of Washington
• University of Montana
• Pennsylvania State University

In addition, you can consult the BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit. The Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities also provides a number of videos [New Tab] on making accessible documents.

Accessibility Checklist

The Rebus Community is developing an accessibility checklist for open textbook creation. Follow its development at The Rebus Approach to Accessibility and Inclusivity [New Tab].

Further Reading

Lessons learned in accessibility through the BC Open Textbook Project [New Tab]: Includes five key takeaways. (See below).

National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) [New Tab]: Standard developed in the United States to assist with the production of accessible content in higher education. The NIMAS standard is based on the DAISY standard.

Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act [New Tab]: Requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview from W3C [New Tab]: Aims to provide a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.

International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) [New Tab]: Maintenance agency for EPUB.

Lessons Learned in Accessibility Through the BC Open Textbook Project — BCcampus, Erin Beattie

BCcampus is excited to share with you the amazing work that has been happening in the area of accessibility and open textbooks. Back in 2014, Amanda Coolidge, Senior Manager, Open Education, BCcampus, Sue Doner, Faculty, Instructional Designer, eLearning, Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning [New Tab], Camosun College [New Tab] and Tara Robertson, Accessibility Librarian and Coordinator, Centre for Accessible Post-secondary Education Resources BC (CAPER_BC) [New Tab], created the BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit [New Tab]. The purpose of the toolkit is to help instructional designers and faculty have a better understanding of how to make educational materials accessible.

Early in 2015, we conducted user testing with students [New Tab] who have a range of visual disabilities, from that testing we identified how to make changes to ensure all of our open textbooks are accessible. We were able to work on a few of the books, but because of our small team, we had to put that project on hold until this fall when we hired Josie Gray, a History Major from the University of Victoria [New Tab]. Josie has been instrumental in researching best practices in accessibility and in implementing many changes throughout the open textbooks to comply with accessibility standards. In this post, we will outline the lessons learned with regards to accessibility and guide you through changes you can make to your own educational materials.The practices described will help improve accessibility for people who access BCcampus’ textbooks in all types of formats, including on the web, PDF, Mobi, epub, and word files.The gold standard for accessibility are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) [New Tab], a set of guidelines which describe the minimum standards a web page must adhere to for it to be considered accessible. The WCAG site is a useful starting point for anyone who wants to start learning how to make their digital content more accessible. There are three levels, which range from “A” as the lowest standard to “AAA” being the highest. For BCcampus’ textbooks, we decided that the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines level “AA” would be the standard we would conform to.

The four principles of web accessibility:

1. Content must be Perceivable – That is, information and user interface components must be presented to users in ways they can perceive. This involves things like text size, color contrast, and text alternatives for images.
2. User interface components and navigation must be Operable. Users must be able to navigate around the page and access all information.
3. Content must be Understandable – This principle expands on Principle 1 and 2. Just because a user can perceive and use the content on a webpage, does not guarantee they can understand it.
4. Robust – Content can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. Content is displayed and functions as it supposed to and the markup has little to no errors

5 key takeaways:

• Becoming familiar with how a screen reader works and ensuring that all of the important information can be accessed when using a screen reader proved to be absolutely vital to the accessibility editing process. The way screen readers present information can be quite different from how visual users are used to accessing information.
• While bold and enlarged text conveys the purpose of text to a visual user, a screen reader will treat it as regular text. For this reason, aspects of the document should be identified through markup so a screen reader can process them. This applies to things like table captions and column headers, headings, and subheadings. This can be done by changing the HTML markup or by selecting options in whatever word processing tool you use.
• Links are fairly straightforward. The two main requirements are that they are descriptive and that they don’t open any new windows or tabs. If they must open in a new window or if link opens a different document type, that should be clear: Google [New Window] or Course Outline [PDF]
• Providing an alternate text description (alt tag) for images will ensure screen reader users, or those whose computers will not load the images can still access all of the important information in an image.
• Textbooks in our collection that meet the accessibility criteria are marked with an “Accessible” flag. There are currently 39 accessible textbooks in the collection; a list of these books is available by clicking on any “Accessible” flag in the collection or by going here: https://open.bccampus.ca/find-open-textbooks/?lists=accessible [New Tab]

Notable quote:

“Open education is about making resources available to everyone, including students with visual and other disabilities. Ensuring that our textbooks are accessible and encouraging faculty who write open textbooks to do the same is our goal.” – Lauri Aesoph, Manager, Open Education

Learn more:

• BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit [New Tab]
• The French translation of the Accessibility Toolkit [New Tab]
• The Accessibility Checklist used to determine whether or not a textbook in our collection is accessible [New Tab]
• Can everyone actually use it? Testing open textbooks for accessibility [New Tab]

Organizing content

• Content is organized under headings and subheadings.
• Headings and subheadings are used sequentially (e.g., Heading 1, Heading 2).

Images

• Images that convey information include alternative text (alt text) descriptions of the image’s content or function.
• Graphs, charts, and maps also include contextual or supporting details in the text surrounding the image.
• Images do not rely on color to convey information.
• Images that are purely decorative do not have alt-tag descriptions. (Descriptive text is unnecessary if the image doesn’t convey contextual content information).

Links

• The link is meaningful in context and does not use generic text such as “click here” or “read more.”
• Links do not open in new windows or tabs.
• If a link must open in a new window or tab, a textual reference is included in the link information (e.g., [NewTab]).

Tables

• Tables include row and column headers.
• Row and column headers have the correct scope assigned.
• Tables include a caption.
• Tables do not have merged or split cells.
• Tables have adequate cell padding.
  

Multimedia

• A transcript is available for each multimedia resource including relevant non-speech content.
  • Transcript includes:
    • speaker’s name
    • all speech content
    • relevant descriptions of speech
    • descriptions of relevant non-speech audio
    • headings and subheadings
• Captions of all speech content and relevant non-speech content are included in the multimedia resource; this includes the audio synchronized with a video presentation.
• Audio descriptions of contextual visuals (e.g., graphs, charts) are included in the multimedia resource.

Formulas

• Formulas have been created using MathML.
• Formulas are images with alternative text descriptions if MathML is not an option.

Font size

• Font size is 12 point or higher for body text.
• Font size is 9 point for footnotes or endnotes.
• Font size can be zoomed to 200%.

Quiz: Accessibility, Lessons Learned in Accessibility, Checklist for Accessibility

Glossaries & Indexing

Using glossaries and indexing can be helpful to students, faculty, and other users of your book. For a guide to creating a glossary in Pressbooks, see Glossaries [New Tab] in the Pressbooks User Guide.

How Back Matter Works in Pressbooks

Back matter is the stuff at the end of your book, after the main sections of the book are finished. Some common items in Back matter include: Epilogue, Index, Bibliography.

Back matter items are essentially chapters within a part, with one additional option to customize.

The Back Matter Types menu lets you indicate an item’s type.

The process to create, edit, delete, rename or reorder back matter items is the same way as that for Chapters [New Tab], with one additional option.

Types of Back Matter, and How to Create Them

Pressbooks lets you specify 24 types of back matter, including Miscellaneous.

These types are:

• About the Author
• About the Publisher
• Acknowledgements
• Afterword
• Appendix
• Author’s Note
• Back of Book Ad
• Bibliography
• Biographical Note
• Colophon
• Conclusion
• Credits
• Dedication
• Epilogue
• Glossary
• Index
• Miscellaneous
• Notes
• Other Books by Author
• Permissions
• Reading Group Guide
• Resources
• Sources
• Suggested Reading

To designate back matter type:

• Go to the Pressbooks dashboard. Click on Text, then go to Organize.
• Press the Edit button adjacent to your desired back matter element.
• On the right of your edit screen, select the correct dropdown in the Back Matter Types menu that applies to the desired type.

Publish by using the Update button.

Back Matter Order

As with front matter, Pressbooks will order your back matter in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style rules. These mandate the following order:

Indexes and Notes

Currently, Pressbooks is not able to automatically create these pages with links to the corresponding locations in the body of your book. However, it is possible to create these manually using anchor links. To do so:

1. Create your back matter section and add your content
2. Create an anchor link next to each term/entry/endnote by clicking the “Anchor” button on the toolbar and entering a unique identifier
3. Go to the corresponding chapter and find the term you wish to link to the back matter
4. EITHER:
   1. Highlight the text, click on the “Link” icon and enter ‘/back-matter/[your-section-title]/#unique-identifier‘ OR
   2. Insert a number marker using the superscript button on the toolbar (like this¹), highlight the number and create a link as above.

This will create a link to the back matter section, but to also link back to the body text, repeat the same process in reverse, placing the anchor in the body text and the link in the back matter section.

For more on adding end-of-book endnotes, click here [New Tab]. For more on internal links and anchors, see our guide chapter on hyperlinks [New Tab].

Quiz: Glossaries & Indexing