Create your own OERS: Student-Generated Text(book)s

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Create your own OERSStudent-Generated
Text(book)s

• Jennifer Kidd (Old Dominion University)

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What do we mean by Open?

• Open to access
• Open to re-use/share
• Open to contribute/create
• How does openness relate to control/power?

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What do I mean by Open?

• Open to access
• Open to re-use/share
• Open to contribute/create
• More openness more control/power more learning

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My students write their Textbook

• Undergraduate Students!

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Students writing their own text????

• What intrigues you about this idea?
• Potential benefits?
• What
  horrifies you?
• Drawbacks?

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Potential Benefits of a student-authored text

• Students save
• More motivated to read (maybe?)
• Student Empowerment
• Students decide whats important (who normally
  does?)
• Students evaluate their own course materials (who
  normally does?)
• Students see themselves as authors, experts,
  contributors to professional conversations on
  educational topics

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Potential Benefits of a student-authored text

• Communication and Evaluation Skills
• Students write for an authentic audience, learn
  to present information
• Students are responsible to their peers (task has
  purpose beyond course assignment)
• Students provide and receive constructive
  feedback

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Potential Benefits of a student-authored text

• Technological Prowess
• Students learn new skills for 21st century
  literacy
• Pre-service teachers pass skills on to future
  students

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Potential Concerns of a student-authored text
(product and process)

• Inaccurate,
• Incomplete,
• Grammatically nightmarish,
• Inappropriate Content

• More work for you and students
• Technical Logistical
• Challenges

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My Students Textbook

• 8th year writing own textbook
• Each semester theres a new edition (or 3!)
• 150 pre-service teachers participate each
  semester
• Foundations of Education course
• Students select a topic and TEACH their peers
  about the topic by creating 500-600 word lesson
  (with learning targets, anticipatory set,
  multimedia, references, multiple-choice
  questions)
• Extensive peer review and peer evaluation process
  (Should students grade the book or the
  instructor?)

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Book Tour

• List of URLs to all past wikibooks
• https//sites.google.com/a/odu.edu/301-wikibooks/
• The first edition in Wikibooks
• google Wikibooks Social and Cultural
• Recent editions in Google Sites
• https//sites.google.com/a/odu.edu/teaching-learni
  ng-in-2015/home

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Tour Links

• Author Pages
• https//sites.google.com/a/odu.edu/teaching-learni
  ng-in-2015/home/about-the-authors
• Carolyn, Cat, Charlene
• Lesson Examples
• https//sites.google.com/a/odu.edu/teaching-learni
  ng-in-2015/home/content/section-1-diversity/teachi
  ng-learning-about-race-and-racism-in-the-us/using-
  the-art-of-faith-ringgold-to-teach-about-race-and-
  racism
• https//sites.google.com/a/odu.edu/teaching-learni
  ng-in-2015/home/content/section-4-schools-curricul
  um/assessment-accountability/homework

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Peer Reviews in Canvas
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Student-authored texts as Open Pedagogical
Practice

• Power transferred to students
• Students act as co-creators of course content
• Students have autonomy (choose what/how to
  present)
• Students participate in the development of
  grading criteria and the assessment process
• Students grade final submissions (determine
  content)
• Created resources are open for access and re-use
• Educational community is encouraged via review,
  rating and commenting

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Constraints used to focus learningConstraints-gt
Opennesslt-Constraints

• (Why constraints are needed Openness is
  cognitively demanding --requires problem solving)
• Students choose from a list of approved topics
• Instructor-created/controlled forum
• Instructor-created guidelines and process
  scaffolded assignment, drafts reviewed by
  instructor
• Project exists within an otherwise fairly
  traditional class (lectures, discussions, tests
  etc)

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Whats the Goal of User-generated (Open) Texts
Product or Process?

• Product

• Process

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For us Its about Process

• Students write a new textbook each semester
• WHY?
• The people who are benefitting from these open
  educational resource initiatives are the people
  who are producing the open educational resources
  (Downes, 2010)
• The primary purpose of learner-generated content
  is to stimulate knowledge growth within learners
  (Lee McLoughlin, 2007)

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Why do we have students write their own textbook?

• Pre-service teachers need practice researching,
  evaluating and synthesizing material and then
  presenting it in an engaging fashion to an
  authentic and interactive audience
• Models authentic learning
• Rise in Online Ed Future Teachers will be Online
  Teachers
• Rise in use of digital texts in K-12
• Develop tech expertise with digital texts and web
  2.0 tools

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Why do we have students write their own textbook?

• Disrupts traditional learning paradigm ? shifts
  power to students (future teachers need practice
  making important decision about teaching and
  learning)
• Promotes self-regulation, autonomy, intrinsic
  motivation
• Practice giving and receiving feedback (improve
  writing and assessing abilities)

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Drawbacks

• TIME! More work for students and instructor
• SKEPTICISM from fellow academics about legitimacy
  of student-generated materials

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Other Crazy Faculty

• Its not just me!

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SA Textbooks in IT

• 2004 Richard Watson, University of Georgia, had
  students in his XML class each write a chapter of
  their textbook
• 2005 20 institutions in Israel write a wiki
  textbook on information systems in Hebrew
• 2006 Peter Woolf, University of Michigan, and
  his students created the University of Michigan
  Chemical Engineering Process Dynamics and
  Controls Open Textbook
• 2007 Ed Gehringer, North Carolina State, and his
  students developed Expertiza, software to manage
  SA wiki textbooks
• Chris Bennett, University of Maine, Farmington,
  and his students in several courses write
  textbooks

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SA Textbooks in other areas

• David Wiley, Project Management for Instructional
  Designers Ryan Cragun, University of Tampa -
  Introduction to Sociology, Using SPSS and PASW
• Lixun Wang, English Department in the Hong Kong
  Institute of Education - language studies
• University of Thessaly in Greece - undergraduate
  course on the uses of the Internet in Education
• Michael Orey, University of Georgia- learning
  theories
• Dale Fowler, Indiana Wesleyan University -
  learning theories
• University of Houston and Indiana University of
  Bloomington The Practice of Learning Theories
• International collaboration with 5 institutions
  The Web 2.0 and Emerging Technologies

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Quick Take Aways for Student-authored textbooks

• Find an easy to use platform
• Students like researching and writing their
  article but stress about posting their work for
  all to see
• Students like the interactive parts of the text
  and reading other students perspectives but
  still dont much like reading textbooks
• Students hate wiki code, any code
• Students feel proud of their work
• Student need lots of hand holding at the
  beginning but feel more technologically confident
  at the end
• Encourage students to explore web 2.0 tools, you
  dont have to teach all these, or even know about
  them

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If you are intrigued and want to learn more

• Jennifer Kidd, Senior Lecturer
• Department of Teaching Learning
• Office location Ed 166-7
• Office phone [phone]
• jkidd_at_odu.edu