I would be interested in contributing. Please keep me in the loop.
Regards,
Glenn Simonelli
On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 12:22 PM, Dawes, Ralph <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Care to contribute to an open educational resource for introducing college
> students to physical geology? In other words, help write and edit a free and
> open online textbook for Geology 101?
>
>
>
> You have probably heard about open educational resources. Besides being
> easily found on the Web, the key criteria for an open educational resource
> (OER) are that it:
>
> 1. Is free of charge.
>
> 2. Is copyrighted for free use (or free with attribution), including use
> in altered, edited, and excerpted forms.
>
> 3. Requires no login, registration, or user information to be accessed.
>
>
>
> If enough of us get together and create an open Geology 101 textbook online,
> we can leverage (1) each other’s experience in teaching introductory
> geology, (2) each other’s content knowledge from our earth science research
> backgrounds, and (3) each other’s pedagogical knowledge from up-to-date
> educational research, in order to group-source, as they say, a high-quality
> digital textbook.
>
>
>
> Once it is available to the world at large, we can keep improving the
> digital textbook with future edits and revisions as it gets perused, used,
> and commented upon.
>
>
>
> The next common questions might be: What’s in it for me? Don’t people write
> textbooks, which can take years of effort, at least partly for a profit
> motive? Yes, there is a lot to be said for traditional textbooks, including
> letting the publishers provide editing, image-making artwork, publicity,
> printing, and shipping; letting the academic marketplace filter textbooks by
> purchasing more of those with the desired qualities; and in the end
> rewarding those who write good-quality textbooks and get them published.
>
>
>
> However, in spite of the questions we may raise about the nebulous-seeming
> enterprise of open educational resources, and the benefits of traditional
> for-profit textbooks, OER textbooks are going to happen. In my view, the
> best way for an open, online, digital textbook for Geology 101 to happen is
> for those of us who care most about having students be introduced to geology
> properly at the college level be the ones who create it.
>
>
>
> That is why I am asking you to join me in this endeavor. At this point, it
> is just an inquiry on my part. If several of you express interest, we can go
> ahead and set up a wiki to work together, agree on the editing controls, and
> go from there until the digital text creation and editing site is up,
> online, and its contents being composed by us, presumably sometime during
> 2011. There are no deadlines.
>
>
>
> By the way, if we spot some grant requests for proposals that the Geology
> 101 OER textbook might be suitable for, we should consider applying, as
> there will be some aspects of the work that a grant could help us deal with
> more efficiently. But regardless of whether we do this as a bootstrapped,
> from-the-grassroots, on-our-own-time side project, or whether we find some
> support along the way, the two key words are open and educational. In my
> view, only those who have a sense of urgency about wanting to do this should
> step forward and get involved in helping to make this happen.
>
>
>
> In the meantime, all inquiries and comments are welcome. Thank you.
>
>
>
> --Ralph
>
>
>
> Ralph Dawes, Ph.D.
> Earth Sciences
> Wenatchee Valley College
> 1300 Fifth Street
> Wenatchee, WA 98801
> (509) 682-6754
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
--
Dr. Glenn Simonelli
Assistant Professor of Education
Satterlee Hall 216
SUNY Potsdam
Potsdam, NY 13676
315-267-3345
My home page: http://www2.potsdam.edu/simonega
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