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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