1 Introduction
An Open Textbook is a textbook licensed under an open copyright license and made available online to be freely used by students, teachers and members of the public. Many open textbooks are distributed in either print, e-book, or audio formats that may be downloaded or purchased at little or no cost (Learn More About Open Textbooks, the Student PIRGs, 2019).
2 Theoretical Framework
3 Methodology
4 Results
4.1 Three Phases in Authors’ Creation Process
I didn’t even know that I was doing something that was a ‘thing’… I had heard about Creative Commons; so, I understood the difference between copy-right and Creative Commons, I understood ‘domain’, I understood a ‘high textbook cost’, but I had no connection to the OER community … So, I started in isolation and once I started getting interested in OEP I realized: Oh! There is a whole world of people doing this kind of stuff.
Students say there is the narrative by the main author but it’s not only his voice there are many voices … and the instructors should feel confident to add their own voices if they want to add their own stuff or wanna challenge what somebody is saying. They can do that – they can engage in the debate and they can actually even imbed students debates in the textbook.
Students were super excited that the book was free, but they weren’t excited when they started using it because it lacked a lot additional material that they were used to – like illustrations, maps and instructions, and introductions. So that was when we started to use the current students in the course to build out the textbook with the things that they found were missing, and they got really excited about contributing to a book. So, what started out as a cost replacement model ended up being much more a pedagogic success story.
4.2 Contradictions in Open Textbook Practices
Dilemma | Conflict | Critical conflict | Double bind | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Author A | 12 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 23 |
Author B | 9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 17 |
Author C | 16 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 24 |
Author D | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
Total | 48 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 77 |
But once the book is out there, there will be hundreds of 2.0 versions of the textbook … So, I see it very much as a dynamic learning tool … That’s the more exciting part of that. It’s not what I have been writing.
Sometimes content is number one of what your students need. But for me, sometimes, its number two. And the experience of the building [of knowledge] is actually more valuable than the specifics of that content.
What kind of decisions are being embedded in those algorithms? The obvious example is that they are using LA to predict students’ success before they enroll … My worry is that that they are going to screen out all the students who they feel don’t have a chance of surviving. And what kind of education policy is that?
4.3 Self-regulated Learning in Open Textbook Practices
Knowledge type/code | Number | |
---|---|---|
Type 1 | General conceptual/theoretical knowledge | 5 |
Type 2 | Specific conceptual/theoretical knowledge | 8 |
Type 3 | Practical/experiential knowledge | 16 |
Type 4 | Self-regulative knowledge | 17 |
Type 5 | Socio-cultural knowledge (community based) | 17 |
Type 6 | Socio-cultural knowledge (workplace based) | 14 |
Total | 77 |
Dilemma | Conflict | Critical conflict | Double bind | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Type 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
Type 3 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
Type 4 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
Type 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 17 |
Type 6 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
Total | 48 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 77 |
I do think students realize that knowledge is not coming from a closed resource but something that we as a community can build and build better. I think that the younger generation… I think they have a better idea of collaborate approaches…I think they understand that they can build better together, whereas I think my generation, or maybe the one before me, was really focused on the individual contribution.