Pressbooks is a platform used to create, customize and host your own original content, such as an open educational resource or a digital scholarship project. It can also be used as a teaching tool to engage students and create real-world assignments that can be shared with the public.
In Professor Andy Lanoux’s FYS, students created an open book titled Being Ukraine: An Introduction to Europe’s Eastern Vanguard. The assignment was carefully scaffolded providing students ample time to write and research their chapters before uploading content to the Pressbooks site. Professor Lanoux partnered with the library for sessions on research with Andrew Lopez and a Pressbooks workshop with Ariela McCaffrey.
The result is an engaging introduction to Ukraine history and culture. The work includes images, a bibliography and a list of illustrations. Students are able to share their work with family members and include a link to their work on resumes and applications for Centers and Pathways.
The project embodies the four factors of open pedagogy practices:
- Openness in all elements of the teaching process and instructional practices such as open and transparent course design and development (learner-centered teaching)
- Student work is public and assignments benefit others beyond the limited course time and space (digital scholarship)
- Learners contribute novel ideas and original research to pressing contemporary problems (critical pedagogy)
- Students create, revise, or remix open educational resources (OER)
View the finished product here: http://openpress.digital.conncoll.edu/beingukraine/
For help with Pressbooks, please contact teachtech@conncoll.edu
Nicely done!