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Faculty Resource Guide

This libguide provides information on a wide range of issues of relevance to faculty including how to link to library resources, what you can and cannot put into Moodle, Open Content Sites, and Information about new Scholarly Communication Hubs.

Open Textbooks 
 

Open Textbooks are a particularly important Open Educational Resource that faculty and students are free to use or adapt!  They have many advantages:

  • All content in them can be adapted so you can customize one textbook to do exactly what you want. 
  • There are No Restriction on their use in sites like MOODLE as they come with an Open License.
  • They are free for students to view; and publishers like Flat World of Knowledge will print them out for a minimal fee if students want the paper edition.
  • They Aid in reducing student dropout rates due to textbook costs, as well as aid in lowering student debt load,

To locate Open Textbooks consult the library's Open Textbook Libguide.  

How do I Modify an Open Textbook?


In order to Modify an Open Textbook you can do one of a few things:

  1. You can author/edit a Wiki Textbook (e.g. BioWiki)
     
  2. You can mix the content in one Open Textbook with the content in other Open Content sources (e.g. other Textbooks, Articles, etc.)
     
  3. You can use one or two textbooks and add changes or new sections to the textbook (creating or adaptig)
     
  4. You must be ready to release your final creation under another Creative Commons Share Alike Licecense or Creative Commons, non-Commercial, Share Alike Licecense  if the original license is one (a good idea anyway as others may want  to use your creation and this way they know they can without having to contact you.)
     
  5. You must give attribution to the original author(s),
     
  6. You MUST utilize openly licensed content (images, graphs, etc.) in your Open Textbook. To do so:
    1. create and openly release (i.e. license) any needed content yourself,
    2. contact the copyright owner and ask permission if you think their content is absolutely critical, or
    3. look for material for which copyright has expired (those of you using Medieval Art should be ok ; )


NEVER use content not licensed for open usage.

Create, Edit or Review an Open Textbook


If you wish to be a real hero, create your own Open Textbook and release it for others to use; particularly if you have expertise that is needed or if you see Open Textbook content lacking in a discipline/topic area.  To do this, follow step #5 in How to Modify an Open Textbook section above and then release the content under the appropriate Creative Commons License (Share or Share Alike - and skip the Non-Commercial if you want printers like Flat World of Knowledge involved).

Similarly, many Open Textbook sites are looking for people to either Peer Review an Open Textbook or do a post-publication review. To learn more about all the ways you can get involved with the Open Textbook movement, check out this resource from BC Campus